Red Rover
by LittletonPace
Summary: *Repost* OC centric/AU storylines post 3x06. Cooper Mackenzie and Juliet Burke have been working together trying to find a cure for the Island's infertility. But now Cooper needs to leave Island; and she sees her only salvation in the Oceanic survivors.
1. Chapter 1: Perfect Strangers

A/N - Yes, another OC :) This is actually an old one of mine and I'm revamping and posting again :) I edited the chapter with some new facts and details now that I have a better idea of who Cooper is.

If you're curious as to what Cooper looks like, she is played by the gorgeous Rachel Weisz in my mind, and in the future, in videos.

Enjoy! xx

**Chapter 1: Perfect Strangers**

Sawyer spat at Pickett as he locked his cage and smirked at him. Worried about Kate and unable to break free of this god forsaken compound, he could do nothing else to vent his anger. Kate's cage was empty making him feel even more isolated. He didn't know where she was; not since she had been covered in a hood whilst they were out hauling rocks and taken away what that defiant blonde, the one he'd heard Pickett address as Juliet.

Pickett was still hell-bent on making Sawyer pay for the death of his girl; and the man's snide comments as he shut Sawyer back in the confines of the animal cage made him sure that his time was nearing the end. He just wanted to make sure Kate wouldn't have to witness it.

A loud scraping of one of the metal doors of the interior compound caught Sawyer's ear. He flicked his head to shift his shaggy mess of hair out of his eyes, thinking that he might see Pickett coming back for round two. But it wasn't; it was someone Sawyer hadn't seen before.

The first thing he noticed about her was the scar on her arm, it sliced from her elbow to her wrist and though it wasn't deep, it was definitely fresh. In her hands she carried what looked like a collapsible chair. He also took note of her shoes; heavy hiking boots and unlike what most of the Others around the compound wore. Her long, shapely legs were wrapped in dark denim jeans with a black singlet visible through her purple hoodie with its sleeves pushed up to her elbows. Her curled, auburn hair was twisted up into a loose ponytail with a few wavy, russet strands shaping her soft, round face. Her skin was porcelain in colour, like a china doll and her hazel-green eyes were large and sparkling. Her thin but supple lips were pulled into a small smile as she approached Sawyer's cage.

Pausing, she cast her eyes down to a shallow puddle just in front of him and then back up to his puzzled face. "You're not going to try and electrocute me, are you?" She asked before she crossed the puddle.

Sawyer cocked his head at her, noting her English accent, but didn't say anything.

She smiled and pointed up over her shoulder to a mess of vines that had overgrown in the outer corner of the compound. "You see that? That's a camera hidden in there." She informed him. "And it's my job to sit in a room and watch you all day."

"Then what're you doin' out here, sweetheart?" Sawyer glared at her.

"It's broken." In one swift move, she kicked open her chair and sat down. "And while they fix it, they sent me out here to watch you and make sure you don't escape."

"Broken?"

"Take a look around," She gestured to the rusted bars of his cage and the wild forest melding with the manmade buildings. "Does this look like a top shelf facility to you?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Cooper." She replied. "Cooper Mackenzie. And I'm not here to hurt you or annoy you; I'm just here to keep an eye on you."

Sawyer slipped his hands through the cage bars and leant against them. "Where's Kate?"

Cooper sighed. "I knew you'd ask that; but I'm sorry I can't tell you."

Scoffing, Sawyer kicked at a rock of dirt making it crumble to pieces. Those damn Others; all so secretive and coy. They loved playing their games. "So why am I lucky enough to have you as my baby-sitter?"

She shrugged. "I drew the short straw." She tucked her legs up under so she sat cross legged.

"You ain't here to stab me with another needle, are ya?" The dull ache in his chest, where Ben claimed to have inserted a pacemaker, throbbed at the memory of being strapped to that table and injected with God knows what.

Cooper's lips curled into a wry smile. "No, James, I'm not." She sighed deeply. "Ben...has a strange way of dealing with people sometimes." She cast her round eyes down to her hands. "And once he gets an idea in his head it's hard to talk him out of it."

"He the one that cut you?" Sawyer thrust his chin at the pink scar on left arm.

Cooper quickly slid the sleeves of her hoodie down over her arms. "No." She replied curtly.

He'd hit a sore spot and he knew it. "Not so chatty now, are ya?" he smirked.

"I wouldn't play this game with me," She warned. "I know a lot about you, James."

"That so?"

Cooper nodded. "You see, as well as watching you on those monitors all day; I've also read your file back to front. I know you were born in Jasper, Alabama. I know that when you were eight your mother, Mary, was killed by your father who then turned the gun on himself. I know that you blame a conman for their deaths, but for some reason you still appropriated his name and career for yourself. I know you have a daughter, Clementine, and her mother pressed charges against you for conning her. You were in prison for almost a year. I know that you were arrested for assault in Australia and being deported back to the US on Oceanic 815," She smiled. "And do you want me to tell you your seat number, too?"

Sawyer nervously chewed the inside of his lip. "Why are you telling me this? What is it you want, exactly?"

Cooper took a moment to make sure they were alone, checking over her shoulders and glancing up to see if the red light of the camera was blinking yet. Thankfully, it wasn't. Just to make sure she wouldn't be heard, Cooper stood right up against the cage so all she had to do was whisper her request. "I want you to take me with you."

"What?"

"I can get you and Kate out of here."

Sawyer was immediately suspicious. "Why?"

"Like I said, I know a lot about you." Cooper spoke quickly and quietly, worried someone might interrupt them. This was her only chance to get him on her side. "But I also know about your friends. I know all about the terrible things you've done." She took hold of the bars and leant in close to him, so close she could see the three creases in his furrowed brow. "And I would still rather take my chances with your people than stay here."

Sawyer contemplated her offer for a moment. She was an Other; she was one of them. He'd been fighting against these people for weeks now; and she wanted his help? It was a lie; a ruse. He was a conman, he knew when he was being played. But he'd mentioned her...Kate. She would get Kate out of her, keep her safe, make sure she didn't have to witness his execution. Maybe Cooper was conning him right back, promising him something she knew he couldn't say no too.

"What about Jack?"

Cooper nervously tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she shook her head back and forth. "No, he's being watched closer than you two are."

"Well, sorry English, but-"

"If you don't let me help you; you're going to die." Cooper said. Her statement hung out there in the air, having its desired effect on Sawyer as he shifted nervously from foot to foot. "And believe it or not, I don't wish that to happen." A loud metal-on-metal screech followed by a bang told her that someone was coming out. "Are you in or out?" Cooper asked quickly.

Sawyer glanced over at Kate's empty cage; his heavy heart beating faster with the prospect of freedom only inches away; nervously biting her lip in anticipation. He could hear footsteps behind him as someone approached. "In." He whispered gruffly to her. And she smiled.

"Coop?" Juliet cast a suspicious glance between the captive Sawyer and her friend. "Can I see you for a minute?"

Cooper forced a smile on her face. "Of course." She didn't dare sneak a final glimpse at Sawyer before she walked away, Juliet would spot her. Not to say that she wasn't already forming her own assumptions; she was a very intuitive person.

Juliet held the door back inside open for Cooper and waited until she pair had walked deep back into the compound before she opened her mouth. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Cooper tried to sound casual as she opened the door to her bunker where she spent most of her days. It was one of the nicer areas of the base, but the equipment was so old Cooper was sure it was from the seventies. She didn't understand why Ben didn't update it; but she assumed they hadn't had to use this area of the building for awhile.

"Talking with Ford," Juliet folded her arms tightly across her blouse. "You were just supposed to watch him."

Cooper sat herself at the desk in front of the monitors, making sure all the cameras were back in working order. The screen on the far right showed Sawyer sitting against the fish biscuit contraption in his cage and rubbing the back of his neck. "Firstly, I _was_ watching him. And secondly; I was talking _to _him not _with_ him."

Juliet's sneer evolved into a smirk and then she let herself smile; it was hard to stay mad at Cooper. They'd been friends since Juliet arrived three years ago; Cooper had been here for five. "Ok." She conceded. "Is everything working okay?" She nodded her head towards the monitors.

"Seems to be." Cooper sent a smile over her right shoulder. "How's Ben?"

"Being prepped for surgery."

"Kate convinced Shepherd to do it?" Cooper's eyes widened, she hadn't been sure the plan would work.

"Yes, she did." Juliet smiled again, but this one was tenser, more strained.

Cooper fiddled with some buttons on the switchboard and pulled up the feed from the camera in the operating room. Sure enough, there was Ben, nervously puttering around the room. "It's happening now?"

"Soon. I'll be in there with him."

Cooper nodded. "Well, I'll have my eyes on you." She pointed to the monitor.

"Cute, Coop." Juliet said as she backed out of the room. "I'm not sure how long it'll be; but I'll try to keep you posted."

Cooper nodded, holding a nervous glance with her friend before she left her alone. They both had the same feelings about Ben, and he wouldn't let either of them off this island. Should things go against the man during his surgery, it wasn't going to have the worst outcome for Cooper or Juliet; who shared the intense desire to get away from him. Ben's hold on Juliet was much stronger than it was on Cooper; she had noticed that from the very day Juliet arrived to the island. Ben was instantly fond of her and often found ways to be around her more than necessary.

But he didn't know.

He didn't know how close Juliet was to finding a cure for the infertility on the Island. At least, in some capacity.

Cooper was pregnant.

Nearly ten weeks along. Juliet was keeping a close eye on her, monitoring every change and keeping the findings hidden so Ben wouldn't find out. Juliet's worry was that her treatment may not work; and if that were so then Cooper would have to leave the island or both she and her unborn child would perish, like the nine other patients they had lost in recent years.

Since Oceanic 815 crashed on the island; Ben's feelings toward Juliet intensified and he spent less and less time worrying about what Cooper was doing; she suspected this was the reason he gave her the task of monitoring Kate and Sawyer. He had Juliet and Cooper abandon their fertility experiments and made Cooper become a nine-to-five security guard while Juliet was able to keep researching; though to a minimum. And it was for this reason that Cooper decided to approach Sawyer and ask him for his help. She knew, if she made it back to their camp, that she would be an outcast and everyone would be suspicious of her; but she didn't care. They were her way off this island; her way for her child to be safe.

There hadn't been visitors to this island in years; now here they were right on Cooper's monitors; it was her chance. Her only chance. And if it meant she had to leave Juliet behind; then that's what she was going to do.

**xxx**

Over the next half hour, Cooper's heartbeat grew steadily faster. She wanted to make sure Jack, Juliet, Ben and Tom were deep into the surgery before she made her escape with Austen and Ford. She also knew that Pickett was watching the surgery like a hawk; waiting for Ben to be okay so he could go out and have his revenge on Sawyer. So, if she played things out right, she could get out quickly without being seen.

When the clock neared four in the afternoon, Cooper rose from her chair and retrieved her hidden shoulder bag from behind her desk. Within the bag was all the items she had managed to take with her from her house when she'd left that morning; it was all she was going to take with her. As well as a spare pair of jeans, a couple of t-shirts, a toothbrush, a book she was determined to finish, and two handguns with as many extra rounds as she could carry; she had a cache of injections that Juliet had been giving her weekly to aide in her pregnancy. Cooper knew she had exactly enough for nine months; but she hoped she wouldn't have to use it all.

Cooper was in the midst of setting up her desk to make it look like she hadn't left in a hurry when something on the monitor caught her eye. Kate was weaving her way through the bars of the top of her cage. "No..." Cooper zoomed in on Sawyer's cage and saw Kate start trying to break him out. "Dammit." She was going to have to move now.

Clicking off the monitor, Cooper snatched up her bag and headed out to the cages, grabbing one of her handguns as she walked outside. Kate was trying to break through the lock on Sawyer's cage by smashing a rock against it. "Kate!" Cooper called, aiming her weapon at the prisoner.

Austen turned to face her, holding up the rock as a weapon. "Stay away!"

"It's ok!" Cooper told her. "I'm going to help you."

"Why should I believe that?" Kate snarled back.

Keeping her gun aimed on Austen, Cooper advanced on her whilst using her free hand to retrieve a set of keys from her pocket. Kate watched, cautious and defiantly suspicious, as Cooper unlocked Sawyer's cage. For a few seconds, they all just stood there. Cooper shot a glance at Sawyer, Kate immediately noticed this.

"What the _hell_ is going on?" She shrieked. Almost as if on cue, thunder clapped loudly up in the heavens and rain started spraying down on them.

"English is coming with us." Sawyer said as he finally walked free of his confinement.

Kate's frantic eyes darted between the pair of them. "With us?"

"Look, we could chit-chat about this all day but we have about five minutes before they realize I'm not still at my post." Cooper told Kate. "I know you don't know me and you don't trust me." She held out her pistol, handle first, towards Kate. "So you take this. But we have to leave _now_!"

"Let's go, Freckles." Sawyer urged Kate and the three of them took off into the jungle.

Cooper took the lead but she could feel Kate close behind her. They'd barely been running two minutes before the air was filled with the blaring sound of the alarm going off. They know, Cooper thought as her feet pounded along the jungle floor.

"Do you know where you're going?" Kate asked her as they ran.

"Trust me!" Cooper shouted over her shoulder as she leapt over a fallen tree and kept right on running.

After a few more minutes, the thickets and shrubbery began to thin out and the dirt that littered the floor became interspersed with sand; Cooper knew they were getting close. She slowed down and felt Sawyer and Kate slow behind her as she broke through the trees and fell to her knees on the sand just metres in front of the ocean.

Kate stared in awe across the water. "_That's_ our island?" She cried pointing Cooper's gun out in front of her.

"How the hell you suggest we get back there?" Sawyer asked Cooper as he leant on his knees to catch his breath.

"There's a raft." Cooper wheezed. "Hidden in the bushes." She rose shakily to her knees and uncovered the raft hidden by herself and Alex a few days before. It was camouflaged well underneath a thick palm shrouded by chunky shrubs. Sawyer helped her uncover it then the pair of them and Kate started sliding it towards the water. None of them heard the footsteps as someone else reached the beach.

"Where do you think you're going?" Danny sneered, appearing as if out of nowhere, with a gun pointed directly at Sawyer.

"Pickett!" Cooper shouted; he hadn't seen her yet. When he did, he hesitated and lowered his rifle just slightly.

"Hey, Danny!" Juliet's voice sang out from the edge of the jungle.

Before Danny could even turn around, Juliet fired two bullets into his back. He fell forwards to his knees and then onto his stomach. Juliet's eyes scanned up from his body to her friend, who seemed to be helping Kate and Sawyer.

"Cooper..." Juliet shook her head back and forth. "What the hell?"

"I have to go, Burke." Cooper told her, her chest still heaving in exhaustion from the run. "And I have to go now."

Juliet lowered her gun, snatched Cooper's elbow and yanked her aside. "But in your condition-" She whispered in her ear.

"Juliet." Cooper cut in, keeping her voice just as low. "You said I had to leave if I wanted to survive... I'm leaving."

Her chin quivering, Juliet stood aside and allowed her only friend to board the small raft with Kate and Sawyer. She stood there and waited until the raft was a speck on the horizon; way out of the range of a gunshot. Moments later, she was joined by a couple of her comrades, Jason and Matthew, who both stared at Danny's dead body lying in the sand.

"It was an accident." Juliet said to them, not taking her eyes off the fading raft. "Austen and Ford escaped."

Jason looked up and down the beach. "Cooper...where is she? She wasn't at her post..."

Juliet thought for only a moment. The one thing that bonded her and Cooper was their desire to leave the island; Cooper had found a way to do that. She had to protect herself, and Juliet knew of only one way to help her. "She's dead." Her voice shook as she approached Danny's body. "Let's get him back."

**xxx**


	2. Chapter 2: No Place To Go

**No Place To Go**

Cooper's first days at the Oceanic survivors' camp were stressful to say the least. Sawyer and Kate returning had definitely been uplifting for them; but they saw Cooper immediately as an enemy. She couldn't blame them; she knew what her people had done to their people and she knew how they felt about them. _The Others_.

One person who did align himself with her rather quickly was Sayid Jarrah; a man Cooper knew had been a soldier in the Republican Guard and was very astute when it came to torture techniques. She assumed he was sussing her out; testing her motives. He watched her cautiously as she set up a tent for herself on the outskirts of their little shanty beach town. He was trying to intimidate her, that much was clear, but he was very subtle about it.

It was only when Cooper had trouble securing down a piece of tarp that kept flapping away in the evening breeze that he approached her.

"You need a tighter knot." He said. "This close to the beach; the wind picks up quite suddenly."

"Are you offering help or just criticism?" She quipped, a mild attempt at humour.

Sayid gave only the smallest hint of a smile; but he took the ropes from her hands and looped them around the tree trunk before fastening them so tightly to the tree Cooper was sure she'd never be able to undo it. She was also sure that he made her see how rough he pulled the ropes together; threatening her. "That should hold."

"Thank you." Cooper smiled as he left her alone. It was a small step forward; but a step nonetheless. Considering most of the survivors preferred to just give her dirty looks or ignore her completely; she was taking whatever she could get.

After settling in to her new tent; Cooper gathered up some twigs and dry leaves and set about starting a fire. She cursed herself for not picking up a lighter or some matches from The Barracks before she'd left. She also wished she'd brought more food, more clothes, more books, more everything; but she'd had so little time to clear out of there it was a grab-what-you-can scenario.

"Need a light?" A slick, Southern drawl called out to her.

Looking up, Cooper saw Sawyer standing beside her tent silhouetted slightly as the sun set behind him. He was holding a lighter in his hands. "Yes, actually, I do." She held out her hand for the lighter; but he didn't pass it over.

"You want it; you gotta answer me something first."

Sighing, Cooper rested her hands on her knees. "What?"

"Why'd you want outta Crazy Town so bad?"

"You didn't seem to care when I was breaking you out of that cage." Cooper pointed out as she added more leaves to her fire pit.

"Saw a chance to escape and I took it." Sawyer shrugged as he slouched down into the sand beside her. "Since that's what I wanted I didn't wanna give you cause to change your mind."

"Well, it doesn't matter much now, does it?" Cooper pulled her knees up under her chin.

"They had to have done something to make you wanna leave," Sawyer asked. "And you up and ditched your own people without even a look back. That to me says you were running from something." His eyes glanced upon the scar up her arm. "Someone..."

"Perhaps I was running _to_ something, James." Cooper said curtly, holding her hand out to him for the lighter. "I saw a chance to escape, and I took it," She echoed his words. "You were there for what a couple of days, I was there for five years."

"Didn't seem like you were in a cage, English."

"That doesn't mean I wasn't stuck." She said, snatching the lighter from his hand. He didn't say anything else; just waited for her to light her fire and then took his lighter back. Cooper couldn't decipher if he left because he'd gotten what he wanted from her, or because he was put off... probably both.

Alone for awhile, Cooper took out her book and began to read; but she couldn't concentrate. Her mind was racing; and more than once she thought about stepping out that fire and disappearing into the jungle back to her camp; to Juliet. She was in no condition to be in a situation like this, her pregnancy would be threatened enough on this island as it was without the added stress of all these new people. Granted, the whole reason she'd left with Sawyer and Kate was for her unborn child's safety... yet right now she couldn't have felt less safe...

Worried tears in her eyes, Cooper curled up in her new tent, amid the whispers of her name around the campsite, and tried to get some sleep.

**xxx**

_Three Months Ago_

Cooper impatiently chewed on her right thumbnail, her left hand currently having blood drawn from it, as Juliet tried to keep her relaxed. "Coop; take a breath," She said soothingly. "You get like this every time."

"Maybe I am infertile," Cooper muttered. "How many times have we done this, a hundred?"

"Twelve." Juliet corrected her. "Twelve times."

Cooper sighed and dropped her hand to her lap. They had been at this for almost two years now. Cooper didn't mind being a guinea pig, she was desperate for answers as much as Juliet was. Why weren't women able to give birth on this island? What was it that killed both them, and their unborn child, before they reached their third trimester? That's what Juliet was brought to the island to solve, and that's what Cooper was helping her with.

It had been Cooper's idea, to test Juliet's vaccines on her. It went against Ben's orders, so they conducted their experiments at night in secret. They came to The Staff medical hatch two or three nights a week, depending on where Cooper was in the stage of her experiment. Right now; she was at the end of a four week trial of Juliet's latest vaccine. The main issue in the past had been that Juliet's vaccine's prevented Cooper from becoming pregnant; and Cooper worried it would have lasting effects that would cause her to be infertile. Juliet; however, was optimistic.

"Ok, done," Juliet took the blood filled syringe from Cooper's arm and slid her wheeled-chair over to the testing table. "Won't be long."

Cooper untied the rubber band from around her upper arm and slid her sleeve down over that awful scar. She couldn't help but feel disheartened; she wanted to be pregnant so much, to get started on the second phase of their tests, to deliver the first healthy child born and conceived on his island since God knew when. But, with eleven negative tests behind her, Cooper's hopes were most definitely down.

"It's clearly an environmental thing," Cooper was saying. "Maybe we should go to another one of the hatches for the next trial?"

"Stop talking like that, Cooper," Juliet scolded her as she conducted the test. "Staying positive is just as important."

"I'm sorry, Jules, I am but you have to admit this has not been a success." Cooper said as she took a sip of the orange juice Juliet had brought for her.

"Coop."

"I know, positive."

"Exactly." Juliet looked up from the test at her, wide-eyed.

"What?"

"It's positive," Juliet smiled. "You're pregnant... it worked."

Cooper was at Juliet's side in a minute looking at the test herself. "Are you sure? It can't... it worked?" Cooper was so shocked.

"It worked!" Juliet flung her arms around Cooper's neck. "Oh, God, it worked! We're going to have a baby!"

Cooper laughed elatedly and squeezed her friend. "You did it!" She said as happy tears sprang to her eyes.

Juliet chuckled happily, she was crying, too. "Ok," She sniffled. "Ok, this is phase one. We're in phase one right now." She laughed; her hands were shaking with excitement. "Now we have to keep you healthy, next few weeks are going to be very important, ok?"

Cooper could only nod as Juliet started rattling off dates and made notes on a calendar; all she could think of was her baby. She could see him (or her) already. Brown hair, just like her own, same eyes... her baby, the most precious thing she would ever be a part of; but this was just the beginning. Cooper had bore witness to too many deaths of pregnant women on this island; but she had faith in Juliet, faith in their research and her vaccines. The mind that had healed her cancer-ridden sister and achieved a pregnancy with her as well, Juliet was key to all of this. Cooper wouldn't be able to do it without her.

**xxx**


	3. Chapter 3: Before Things Came To Be

**Before Things Came To Be**

_Six Years Ago  
Kigali, Rwanda_

Cooper awoke in her tent in the early hours of the morning to the usual rumble of cattle mooing and huffing their way around the makeshift village. She was only here for a week, but today was her last day and she was definitely going to miss it. She was headed back into town the next morning, but until then she still had work to do.

Throwing on her gray sweatshirt to combat the cool morning air, Cooper exited her tent and was immediately engulfed in hugs from three children she'd been caring for, four-year-old twin sisters Deka and Deyo, and their two-year-old brother, Emeka. Both of their parents had died of AIDS soon after Emeka was born, and the children were being raised by their Aunt, Imena, who was currently suffering through HIV, which is why Cooper was caring for them. The children were lucky; none of them suffered from the virus. Yet.

"Good morning!" She said brightly to the children, giving them each a big squeeze. She spoke English to the children; to help the learn. They knew some words, and were always eager to learn more. "How are you?" She asked Deka, brushing her frizzy black curls from her eyes.

"Good and happy!" Deka said with a broad grin, her two favourite words. "Good and happy!"

"Cooper?"

"Good morning, Ryan." Cooper smiled at her friend and fellow traveller. Ryan was a doctor, who had recruited Cooper from England to come to Africa and help him with his work. Having graduated top of her classes and becoming an established midwife back in her own country, Ryan put her skills to work in Rwanda giving care and comfort to pregnant women, young children and infants.

Ryan was an excellent doctor and wonderful humanitarian. He had been raised with money, going to the best schools and having the finest of everything; and now he was giving it all back. He donated millions of dollars into AIDS research and invested even more in building clinics in the most desolate parts of Africa. And once every few weeks, as he was doing this week with Cooper, he travelled to more remote villages to administer HIV medication and conduct check-ups on the children.

Cooper admired him a lot, but there was no romance between them. Ryan had met his wife Mekema, an Aid Worker in the capital city, four years before, and she was expecting their first child in the coming months. Cooper had known Ryan long enough to read his expressions; so when he greeted her that morning with a crinkle in his brow, she was immediately curious. "What's wrong?"

"You have a visitor." Ryan said, flicking his head back over his shoulder.

Cooper, who was holding the twins hands in each of her own, glanced to where Ryan was gesturing. There was a clean-cut man standing there, with black hair and dark but kind eyes. He was smiling. His tailored pants and clean, button up shirt stood out against the dusty surroundings, but already a couple of the older children were welcoming him to the camp, giving him necklaces they made.

"Who is he?" Cooper asked as Emeka started fussing, she picked him up right away. She'd learned quickly that his little guy needed as much love as he could get; and a simple hug in the morning tended to keep him happy all day.

"Says his name is Richard Alpert," Ryan said. "Do you know him?"

Cooper frowned and shook her head. "Never seen him before."

"Come on, girls," Ryan took Deka and Deyo by their hands. "Let's go see your Aunt, shall we? She's feeling much better today..."

Cooper hitched Emeka to her hip and went over to this Alpert fellow, he was caught up inspecting a necklace nine-year-old Sika had given him. "Mr. Alpert?" Cooper said with a smile.

"Oh, hello, Ms. Mackenzie." Richard reached out to shake her hand. "I'm sorry to trouble you so early in the morning..."

"Oh, that's okay." Cooper smiled. "I have more time before I start my day. How can I help you?"

Sika's younger sister, Marka was running circles around Richard's legs, though he didn't seem to mind. "Ah, could we go somewhere more private?" He said with a laugh.

"Of course," Cooper spoke in gentle French to the girls and asked them to leave the pair alone. Sika, who was much too mature for a nine-year-old, immediately took charge and gathered up the children, firmly telling them not to disturb Cooper and her guest. "Let's walk." Cooper suggested, leading Richard away from the camp towards the makeshift pen that was holding some cattle.

"I have to say, this is quite impressive," Richard said as he gazed around camp. "What you do here; is admirable. The children seem so peaceful."

Emeka chose that moment to giggle and nuzzle into Cooper's shoulder, as if to prove Richard's point. "We try our best," Cooper said modestly. "These children have had harder lives than any child should have. Most are orphans, but these ones are lucky. Healthy and safe." She kissed Emeka's soft cheek. "I'm sorry, but why is it that you're here?"

Richard flushed slightly. "Oh, of course," he smiled. "Well, to be quite honest with you, I've been following your work for quite some time."

"My work?" Cooper was flattered.

"Yes, your papers on the role nurturing plays in medicine," Richard said. "How comfort and love from a young age can increase the chances of recovery, or at the very least change the standard of living for even the direst of cases."

"Yes, well, to me it's just common sense," Cooper said modestly. "But I found it so surprising how rough and cold some medical practitioners can be." She shrugged. "I've just never been that way."

"I also contacted your former professors and employers," Richard continued. "And they had nothing but the highest of praise for you..."

Cooper's smiled faded slightly. "I'm sorry... but why exactly are you looking into my work?"

"What if I told you there was a place where your skills were desperately needed?" Richard said vaguely.

Cooper looked around. "I'd tell you that I'm already in that place."

Richard nodded. "I come from an island, where there is a severe problem with infertility; a problem that we have tried for years to overcome. We've tried every clinical measure we could to combat the problems; but nothing's worked. So, when it was suggested we look into more... abstract means of prenatal care, I stumbled upon your work." He smiled warmly. "Ms. Mackenzie, I have a feeling you are exactly who I'm looking for."

Cooper felt her cheeks blush. "I am truly flattered, Mr. Alpert," She said sincerely. "But, my _work_, as you call it, is needed here." She tightened her arms around Emeka. "I can't just leave."

"I understand, Ms. Mackenzie, I truly do. But," He chewed his bottom lip, flecks of desperation appearing in his kind eyes. "What you do? I can't tell you how vital it might be to finding a cure for our problem."

Cooper was growing a little irritated, she couldn't leave his place. Especially now, not with Emeka's Aunt still feeling ill; she wouldn't leave those children to fend for themselves until Imena was able to function again, but Mr. Alpert didn't seem to want to take 'no' for an answer. "Mr. Alpert." She said curtly. "I understand more than you could possibly know how heartbreaking it is not to be able to cure a problem, and how far you feel you need to go to find a solution. But I am staying right where I am. I'm sorry," She added in a more polite voice. "But I'm not who you think I am."

"What if I offered you something you couldn't refuse?" He called after her.

Cooper stopped in her tracks, turning back ever so slightly. "Like what?"

"Complete healthcare for every single person in this village." He smiled and walked back up to her. "I have friends in high places, Ms. Mackenzie. What if I could guarantee you that every single person you see here today, will be granted asylum in the United States of America, where they'll receive the best chance at a normal, happy life?"

Her brow furrowing, Cooper took a deep breath and looked at Emeka. He was healthy now, as were his sisters. But every few months when she came through to check on them; she was always terrified that their tests would come back positive for HIV, or any of the diseases that ran rampant through this area of the country. Her brain told her that one day, sooner or later, Emeka and his sisters would become ill, and all Cooper would be able to do was watch them grow sicker.

"I promise you, they will all stay together," Richard continued. "I have no interest in breaking up any families. You'll be kept informed of their progress; that I can promise you."

The infectious laughter of the children back at the camp rang through Cooper's ears, and struck a chord in her heart. She loved these children, their safety meant everything to her... even if it meant she wasn't going to be able to be with them."How long will you need me?"

"That I can't tell you." Richard admitted. "But you will be well taken care of."

Cooper shook her head in disbelief. "What kind of island is this?"

Richard smiled. "It's right up your alley."

Cooper sighed heavily. "If you get all of these people; men, women and children, safely to America, _permanently_, with the necessary healthcare and education as they need it..." She nodded slowly. "Then I'll accept your offer."

Richard looked thrilled and relieved at the same time. "Wonderful." He took her hand and squeezed it.

Smiling, Cooper couldn't help but feel nervous. Surely she'd made the right choice, these children and their families would be healthy and safe. It was a mere drop in the ocean compared to how many people were suffering in the country, but there was only so much one person could do. According to Richard, it was what she could do that was the reason for all of this. Cooper wasn't completely convinced that he was telling her the whole truth; but her life's work had been about helping others; and that was all she could hope for from this deal.

Keep helping, that's what Ryan always told her, just keep helping until you can't anymore... she didn't know what he was trying to make up for; maybe he felt guilty for having so much when the people he cared for had so little. Cooper just hated seeing people in distress, especially children. If she could help; she would. Perhaps that was what Alpert was after; her undying goal to care for someone else.

The greater good, so to speak.

**xxx**


	4. Chapter 4: The End's Beginning

**The End's Beginning**

"_Cooper, can you hear me?_"

She could. Hear the voice, that is, but Cooper didn't think it was a real voice, because it belonged to Juliet. And Juliet was back on the other island, not here at the beach. So instead, Cooper kept her heavy eyes closed. She was so tired; she couldn't even remember going to sleep the night before.

"_What the hell happened to her_?"

"_She just dropped... one second she was washing clothes, the next she hit the sand..._"

Again, Juliet's voice asked the question, and then Sawyer's responded, she recognized his accent. Why was she dreaming about him...? Unless it wasn't a dream. Curious, Cooper opened her eyes. Well, she tried to, it was exhaustively hard. "Ju...l.. iet?" She said slowly, seeing the concerned face of her friend hovering above her. Why couldn't she speak?

"Cooper, hey." Juliet smiled. "Thank God. You fainted, but you're gonna be alright."

"Here," Another voice said, kneeling over her. "It's water, drink."

It was Jack, she remembered his kind eyes, and he was holding a water bottle to her lips. His hand snaked under her neck to hold her up, to help her be able to swallow. After a few mouthfuls, Cooper's head started to clear and she began to feel better, and she started to remember what had happened. Washing her clothes in the ocean, that rumbling feeling in her stomach, the dizziness... and then Juliet's voice... she wondered how long she'd been lying in the sand.

"Let's get her out of the sun," Jack said, scooping her up in his arms and carrying her to the cool shade of her tent.

"What are you doing here?" Cooper managed to ask Juliet, referring to both her and Jack who had still been stuck back at their former home on the other island.

"Kate came back for us." Juliet said with a smile, setting herself beside her friend. "They're all gone."

Cooper cocked her head at her. "Who?"

"Ben, Alex, everyone. They all left." Juliet took her wrist and started to time her pulse. "But don't talk. Just rest."

"How've you been feeling?" Jack asked her, all doctor-like, feeling her forehead for her temperature.

"Fine." Cooper lied. Truth was, she'd been feeling nauseous for a couple of days, but that was expected in her pregnancy. She just wasn't ready for everyone to know; especially considering the theoretical outcome on this island.

"Might just be heatstroke," Jack said. "I'll get you some more water; just stay lying down, ok?"

Cooper just nodded as he left her and Juliet alone. "Am I okay?" she asked.

Juliet smiled comfortingly. "They don't know you're pregnant." She stated quietly. "Kate was talking about you as we trekked back here... didn't mention it."

"You didn't say anything; did you?"

"Of course not. But we should."

"Is it starting?" Cooper asked fearfully.

Juliet sighed deeply. "I'm afraid so..." She tried not to sound grave; but it was hard considering what Cooper was beginning to experience.

"Now, we start, right?" Cooper said. "This is the time to start."

Juliet's unlined forehead creased in concern. "Cooper, Ben sent me here to get blood samples from the pregnant women in the camp. He wants to take them back to our island, and test them. If he finds out about you; he'll take you, too. If he finds out about what we've been doing-"

"Juliet." Cooper sat up straight and gripped her friend's hands. "He's not going to find out. He's not here. And the fact is; we're closer to The Staff than we were before... the only chance I have is for us to keep doing this, you know that."

"Coop..." Juliet's ocean blue eyes became tearful. "More than anything; you need to get off this island."

As if on cue, Cooper's belly chose that moment to rumble again. It reminded her of the growl it made when she was hungry; but _this _rumble was in the wrong part of her body. "I know. And being here, with these people, is my chance to do that." She bit her lip. "Until then, I'll need your help."

When Claire fell ill seemingly overnight with what seemed like a flu, Juliet and Cooper were immediately concerned. Even though she'd already given birth, and had conceived off the island, her body was having some sort of latent reaction to a vaccine she had been administered by Ethan. At least, that's what Juliet told Jack; the truth she told to Cooper. There was an implant in Claire's body; one that had been given to her whilst she'd been under their care, and it had been activated to cause her body to go through the same symptoms as every now deceased pregnant woman who had been on the island. It was a crisis that only Juliet could solve; and one that Ben was sure would help Juliet to gain the trust of the beach camp survivors.

A cache of vaccine that would reverse the effects of the chip had been left in the jungle for Juliet, a treatment that was also vital for Cooper's procedures. Only one vial needed to be used on Claire, which meant the rest could be used for Cooper to stave off the effects her pregnancy would have on her, hopefully until rescue arrived.

Charlie, who Cooper soon realized was in a relationship of sorts with Claire, was extremely protective of her and her infant son, Aaron. It took Jack some convincing to let Juliet inject Claire without him being there, so instead he took the baby for a walk. When he returned to see Claire still unconscious with both Juliet still at her side, he was fuming. He set Aaron down in his crib and went off to yell his frustrations at Jack. Juliet went to offer assistance if she could, so when Aaron began to fuss, it turned out that Cooper was the closest person to him.

He was fussing, biting on his fist and whimpering, when Cooper picked up him and held him to her chest. She didn't take him away from Claire, rather she moved closer so she was sitting beside the girl so that Aaron could see his mother, and hopefully this would calm him. "It's alright, handsome," Cooper whispered to the baby, unable not to smile when he locked his blue eyes with hers. "My, you are a gorgeous boy." With her free arm Cooper carefully pulled Claire's arm open and then gently laid Aaron beside her. He quieted down immediately, and even yawned.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?"

Cooper rose to her feet as Charlie stormed towards her. "The baby was crying, I thought it might help if he was with his mother..." She gestured down to Aaron, whose eyes were fluttering closed, lying in Claire's arms.

"She was just trying to help, Charlie," Jack said as he came up behind him. "Aaron's fine."

"I understand that you don't trust me and you don't like me." Cooper said to Charlie. "But one thing you can trust is that I would never bring harm to a child."

Charlie ran his tongue across his teeth and brushed past Cooper, staring her right in the eye. "Just stay away from her." He muttered fiercely.

Frustrated, Cooper could think of nothing more to do than walk to ease her mind; but she soon realized she wasn't alone. "Jack, if you're trying to follow me without me realizing; you're not very good at it." She stopped and sat herself heavily in the sand.

"I'm sorry," Jack sat down beside her. "I was just... trying to figure out what to say." He paused. "I trust Juliet. And she tells me I'd be an idiot not to trust you, too."

Cooper laughed and rested her arms on her pulled knees. "Why? Why are you so eager to trust us? We kept you in locked up, monitored you and your friends. To all your people," She nodded up towards the camp. "We're the enemy."

Jack sighed, and looked out to the setting sun. "I believe that _Ben _is the enemy. And that he kept you on this island for reasons I don't understand, and a part of me doesn't even want to. All I do know is that you and Juliet were desperate enough to leave, so..." He shrugged. "To me, that means you're in the same boat as we are."

The smile he gave her made all of Cooper's anxiety dwindle away. He had a confidence about him that she admired; he was adamant that they were going to leave this place. She hoped she could feel the same way, but once again as if on cue, her stomach rumbled reminding her of the reason she was so desperate to get off this rock in the first place. She must have been wearing her frustrations on her face, because Jack asked her if she was alright.

"Jack..." She said quietly. "If I tell you something... will you listen to me?"

The ease on his handsome face disappeared. "Of course."

She opened her mouth, to tell him she was pregnant, but she stopped. If she told him; she'd have to tell him about the experiments. She'd have to divulge all of Juliet's brilliant, but secretive, work on infertility. She'd have to answer more questions than she cared to think about the responses for... Cooper didn't want to lie to him; but right now, only mere days into this 'new life', she realized she had no other choice.

"What is it?" Jack prodded her.

So, instead of telling him what she really wanted to, she told him something else. Just as true, but not as detrimental. "I am dreadfully sorry for what we did to you, and to your friends." She apologized. "Ben... he's not one for conversation. He has a way of doing things... and he thought the only way to get you to operate on him; was to force you into it. That's why he took Sawyer and Kate as well... and I am so sorry, Jack. I'm sorry that I didn't help you. And I hope, one day, you are able to forgive me."

His face, serious and stoic, suddenly broke into a kind smile. "Cooper... up until today I had no idea what you even looked like." He said. "To be honest, in my eyes?" He frowned and shook his head. "You have nothing to apologize for. It wasn't you who did this to us," he flicked his eyes out across the ocean. "It was them."

Cooper found her tearful eyes return to normal, and a slight smile tugged at her lips. "Thank you, Jack." She said sincerely.

**xxx**


	5. Chapter 5: Back To The Start

**Back To The Start**

Cooper's first month on the island was a whirlwind.

Firstly; she'd been shuttled to this mysterious place on a submarine, and been drugged for the entire trip. She didn't know how long they had been travelling; and no one seemed keen to tell her. Dazed from the adventure of it all, she let it pass and allowed the overwhelming island to take her over. It was beautiful. She wondered if it was a part of Fiji or Hawaii; it had that picturesque appeal to it, she imagined the beaches were filled with tourists and locals, however they weren't. There didn't seem to be anyone around; except for the people who came on the submarine.

She met Ethan, a seemingly nice man with shaggy, dirty blonde hair who guided her from the submarine, across the jetty and to the shore. It was there they began a trek through the jungle. At first Cooper thought it was just some sort of tour, something perhaps they did to every person who came here, but the lack of trail and the amount of times she slipped over on unsteady footing told her different.

_Click, click, click..._

_This damn watch..._, Cooper cussed under her breath. Every time she walked, it would click against the button on the side pocket of her favourite jeans. She almost expected it now; it had been happening for years.

What she didn't expect, was her favourite part of the trek. The place she would come to know of as 'home'.

It was odd; seeing a village in the centre of what seemed to be a very isolated island. She hadn't seen any roads or other buildings, or even power lines. But this place; was like a sweet, little neighbourhood. Ethan pointed things out to her as they walked, gesturing to the motor pool to her right where a very old jeep was being worked on by a couple of people who smiled and waved. Further up the path was a playground, and a few larger buildings that Ethan said weren't of much use anymore, but he paused outside the largest room and told Cooper with a smile it was where she would be doing most of her work.

Then they came to the houses. Cooper was shocked when Ethan told her the whole thing would be her own. Having just come from Rwanda where she spent the night in a thin, canvas tent with a fairly inconsistent fly screen; and now she had a beautiful, pale sun yellow home with a porch complete with two chairs and a table as well as lush, green plants on either side of the door.

Whilst Cooper had been gushing over the home; she almost didn't see the man coming through the screen door. He had a single sunflower in his hand which he handed over to her with a smile as he introduced himself, "Hello, Cooper," He said. "My name is Benjamin Linus. Welcome to the island."

"Thank you," Cooper took the delicate flower from him; unsure of what to make of him. He seemed nice enough; even though his smile was a little too big, and his eyes a little too wide. "This is beautiful," She gestured to the house. "I really don't need this much space..."

Ben waved a hand at her, as if it was no trouble. "We want you to be comfortable while you're here."

Comfortable; she was. At least for a little while. It took about a week for her to be settled, every day Ben, who Cooper soon realized was the man in charge, or Ethan brought her a new stack of books of files on infertility cases on the island. It was definitely intriguing. Something happened to these women during the course of their pregnancy that caused their bodies to react as if they were fighting a disease. Cooper had never seen anything like it; not so frequently in such a confined area.

It was during her second month that Cooper received her first patient. Lexie. She was thirty, and married to Edward; a thoroughly friendly man who was rarely seen out of his overalls, stained in oil from working in the Motor Pool all day. Lexie came to Cooper barely pregnant, four weeks according to her ultrasound.

Cooper had set up a neat little office for herself at The Staff; a hatch which was located a fair way away from her home. On a whole other island, to be exact. She had to take a paddle raft to get there.

_Click, click, click... _

Her watch again, every time she brought the paddle down on her left hand side, it would scrape against the boat. It was quite an old fashioned vessel, she felt she could do it in half the time if it were motorized, but the equipment in the medical hatch was in good condition; if a little outdated. It was here she collected her data, and ran tests.

Lexie was in perfect health, as was her child. And they stayed that way for so long, Cooper was beginning to wonder why the heck she'd been brought to this place if Lexie was on track to give birth right on schedule.

When Lexie began to feel nauseous in the start of her second trimester, even though she had experienced no morning sickness in her first, Cooper wasn't too worried. She attributed the nausea to Lexie's heightened senses, adjusting to the smells around her; but the problem was; that the sickness never subsided.

Two weeks later; Cooper was awoken in the very early hours of the morning by Edward, who was petrified because Lexie had awakened him, telling him she couldn't breathe. That was when Cooper moved her from her home, to The Staff. She needed oxygen administered through a mask; and she needed to be monitored.

Cooper didn't leave The Staff for the next three weeks. She only came back out into the sunlight, after she had pronounced Lexie dead.

It had all happened so fast. Lexie slipped into a coma, suddenly and for no apparent reason. She stayed in this state for three days, Edward at her side, before her heart gave out and she slipped away.

Cooper was distraught; she had no idea what had happened. She hadn't been prepared, she hadn't been equipped. She'd delivered babies in the most remote parts of the world, she'd comforted women through miscarriages and stillbirths, she'd wept as teenage mothers died delivering their too-small infants; she'd seen the worst of the worst. But this? This felt like worse than worse... because even in those devastating moments; she had known what to do. But with Lexie... nothing had worked. None of her training had helped; she had still died.

To Ben and everyone else; this had been the expected outcome. They were all very apologetic to Cooper; to which she became highly unnerved. They were reacting in completely the wrong manner. This was their friend; they should be grieving. Not pitying her.

The morning following Lexie's funeral, Cooper found herself wandering off the path that lead back home; she came to a clearing, sat against a tree trunk and clutched her arms around her knees.

_Click, click, click..._

Again, her watch grazed the button on her jeans as she slid to the ground. Her mind was still clouded; all the things she did... the things she should have done, what could she have done differently? Staring down, she scrutinized her watch. The chipped band, the cracked face covered in smudges and scrapes. The hands; reading the same time it did every moment of every day since she'd received it.

The watch was broken. It had always been broken. That's not why she wore it every day. That wasn't why she grew anxious if she took it off, and it wasn't why she stared at it in moments like this, moments when she needed comfort. The watch symbolized something to her, a kind of mantra that she chose to believe; because it was the only thing that helped her get through the horrors of her work.

_Even as time stands still, I will keep moving. _

**xxx**


	6. Chapter 6: Worse Than Worse

**Worse Than Worse**

Cooper's eyes were dry.

She wanted to cry more tears, she felt she had to, but she couldn't. It was too much, all of this. She scribbled down eleven-thirty in the morning on the file in front of her, next to that heading she hated with all her being. _Time of death_.

Jane was patient four. A completely wonderful young woman of twenty-eight, Jane's pregnancy had come as a shock. The poor girl had been terrified, knowing the history of mothers on the island. Cooper went through her usual routine; telling Jane she would be fine, that she would find a way to make sure she and her child were safe. It hadn't been a lie; but it sure as hell wasn't the truth, either.

Jane had made it to week twenty-two of her pregnancy before she'd fallen victim to the same symptoms as all the women before her. Cooper never gave up hope... until Jane slipped into a coma. Once the patient was unconscious, their vital signs plummeted. The only question remaining was how long until they would die. The answer varied. With Lexie, it had been three days. Maureen, only two. With Casey, Cooper had thought maybe they were making some headway, she was in a coma for five days, but a sudden seizure put an end to whatever chance at recovery Cooper had been hoping for. And Jane had been the quickest death yet. Within hours of her falling into a coma, she flat-lined and died with Cooper clutching her hand.

Jane had been all alone in her pregnancy. The father, Leo, had been shipped off on the submarine that left a week after Jane told him about the baby. Jane had confided in Cooper that she knew he'd volunteered to leave, that their fling was nothing more than that to him and he wasn't ever going to stick around and raise a child with her. So Cooper had tried to step in and help where she could; she even let Jane sleep in the spare room of her house.

Perhaps their friendship was what spurred Cooper's confidence that Jane would be different; that she would be the one to be saved. When her nausea hadn't been as severe as the others, Cooper took it as a good sign. When her shortness of breath came and went within a week, Cooper considered this an improvement. Now, she knew the truth. Jane's illness had been progressing much faster than the other women. The sooner she got sick; she sooner she died.

There was no reason for it. Every death was different than the one before. Though the stages were the same, the frequency and intensity of each one differed for each patient. Cooper felt like all she could do was keep track of the spiral towards death.

Four women, four unborn children. All lost in the almost two years she'd been on this island. She ran tests, of course, spent hours upon hours in The Staff testing and re-resting her patient's blood samples, noting that each sample differed for each stage of the pregnancy. It was as close to a breakthrough as Cooper had come to. The foreign invader; something Cooper could only attribute to the island; changed the blood sample. It was a virus; and through her microscope Cooper could see it eating away at the blood cells. The virus spread throughout the pregnancy; until it won.

After filing Jane's report along with all the others, Cooper retreated to the second bedroom of her house. The bed was still unmade, as Jane had kept it. Her clothes were in piles all over the floor. And the book she was currently reading, one of Cooper's Agatha Christie novels, _Absent In The Spring. _Again, wishing she had tears to cry, Cooper just shut the door to the room, closing it off. She'd deal with it later.

Instead, she thought she'd drown her sorrows in something that would help her forget all of this, even just for a few hours. She didn't have alcohol in her home, so instead she headed out into the evening breeze towards the cafeteria where she knew she had seen bottles of rum and vodka.

However, when she was in there, slouched in her seat, having decided that she'd rather drink here than at home, Cooper was joined by someone else.

"It's late, Cooper." Ben said as he edged into the room.

"I'm aware of that," Cooper mumbled as she swigged from the warm, half-empty bottle of white rum she'd uncovered.

"Burying Jane today was hard," Ben mused as he sat across from her. "Please, feel free to take time to grieve."

"I want to go home, Ben." Cooper said suddenly.

"I'm sorry?"

"No, _I'm_ sorry," Cooper smiled lazily. "I'm sorry that I haven't been able to help. Nothing I've done has helped, Jane died faster than any of the other women." She wiped a tear from her eye, the ingesting of alcohol apparently fixing her ability to cry. "I'm not doing what you brought me here to do."

"There'll be more women." Ben said firmly. "You'll have more chances."

"There's nothing I can do, Ben." Cooper said helplessly. "I'm a midwife, not a specialist! There is some kind of virus or disease that infects these women here," She said tearfully. "And I don't have the skills to be able to find a way to stop it."

"I can find you someone to help with that." Ben said efficiently. "I don't think now is the time to give up on all your work."

"My work?" Cooper repeated. "My work has done nothing! My work is useless! I can't stay here and watch mother after mother die. I won't do it."

Ben mouth pursed into a firm line. "Why do you want to leave the island? What is it you so desperately want to get back to?"

Cooper furrowed her brow at him. "I had a life. I had a-a purpose. Here I have nothing."

"Here you have everything." Ben corrected her.

"I want to go home." Cooper said again. "I want to see the children; I haven't seen them since I came here!"

"You've been kept up to date with their progress," Ben cut in quickly. "That was the agreement."

Cooper's eyes flinched. Did he think monthly updates on paper of the children's progress was enough? "You're a real bastard, you know that?"

Ben looked angry; but his anger turned into a small smile. "Come by Mikhail's house tomorrow." He said rising to his feet. "And you'll see." With that; he left her to drown her grief in aged liquor.

**xxx**

Nursing a hangover the following morning, Cooper trudged through the jungle trail towards Mikhail's house. She didn't spend a lot of time there; in fact she'd only visited it a handful of times since she'd arrived on the island. He wasn't a friendly man, having been a former Soviet soldier who had lost an eye some time ago, and now wore a menacing eye patch. He kept to himself; and everyone seemed to be happy with this arrangement.

The first time Cooper had been shown to Mikhail's it had been by Ben, and he had approached with some caution. She soon found out that this was because Mikhail kept an armed shotgun at his side at all times. He always looked at Cooper as though she was about to lunge at him or something; he made her uncomfortable.

Drawing on Ben's approach, when Cooper saw Mikhail's shack of a house in her sights, she slowed down to a slow walk, and made sure she made as much noise as she could; stepping on twigs, kicking rocks along, so she wouldn't take anyone by surprise.

"Cooper!" Ben exited the house and waved jovially at her. "It's ok, come right on in."

Tense, but relaxing to a degree, Cooper exhaled a tense breath and jogged up inside. She needn't have worried about being watched, Mikhail was behind a set of three computers typing away at the keyboard; he barely seemed to acknowledge that Cooper was there.

"What's going on?" Cooper asked; eyeing the wall of six computer monitors to her immediate right. They were all on, but showing nothing more than black and white static.

"Communications are down." Mikhail answered, not looking up from his computer. "The satellite was damaged in last week's storm..."

"Do you need any help?" Cooper offered. "I worked the communications in two aid camps in Africa. All the equipment was second hand but I know the basics."

"I have it under control." Mikhail replied, again without looking at her.

"Never mind that," Ben took her elbow and turned her so her back was to the wall of monitors. "You told me last night you would need help, a specialist to continue your work, correct?"

Cooper shifted her weight from one foot to the other; grief and alcohol tended to make her a blabbermouth. "I... ah, yes." She said. "I don't have the scientific skills or knowledge to do the kind of research you want me to."

"I've been looking for someone, a fertility specialist, to help you."

"I told you I want to go home." Cooper reminded him. "My mind hasn't changed, I want to leave. And considering you haven't let me see or even speak to the children... I have no reason to stay."

Ben didn't say anything, his beady eyes grew narrower and he took a step towards Mikhail. "Show her."

Mikhail rose from behind the trio of computers, and gestured Cooper towards the seat.

What she saw broke her heart. The twins, Deka and Deyo, dressed in pink and yellow summer dresses, holding hands with huge grins on their faces, skipping down a warmly lit neighbourhood street. And behind them, jogging to keep up, was their Aunt Imena and little Emeka, who wasn't so little anymore.

"Oh!" Cooper's hands flew to the screen; reaching for the children. "Oh, they're so big," She whispered through gleeful tears, he fingers running across the grainy images of the children she'd cared for in Africa what seemed like a lifetime ago. "Oh; they're so beautiful!"

Ben peered over her shoulder. "Beautiful and healthy. Imena's treatment is going splendidly." He handed her a file. "Her latest results. She's responding well to the HIV drugs. And the children are all perfectly healthy." He slid another file in front of her.

Cooper's eyes drifted down, and saw that the file on top was not a file at all; but rather pictures. Drawings, scribbled by the children. And underneath them, photos of the twins smiling and playing on a school playground, Emeka in a sandpit laughing with a young friend, Imena, looking bright and peaceful, walking the three children to school.

"All the other families are doing just as well." Ben continued, shovelling a handful of folders over to her. "All of their information is here. And your friend Ryan, his wife gave birth to a daughter; Olivia."

Cooper was hugging the photos and drawings to her chest like a life-vest. "Oh, please let me see them!" She begged, eying the giggling faces on the computer screen. "Please let me go and see them."

"No, Cooper, you need to stay here until your work is finished."

"No!" Cooper cried. "I've tried to help you, Ben, you know I have! They keep dying! And they _will_ keep dying because I can't stop it!"

"I've told you I will get you help." Ben repeated firmly. "And when you have that help, you can get back to work." He nodded once at Mikhail; who hit one button that clicked off all three monitors.

Cooper tearfully watched as the images of the family flecked away into nothing more than a black screen baring her silhouetted reflection of despair. Her heart had sunk so low in the last few minutes. Ben could bring as many people has he wanted to the island; Cooper feared they would never find a cure. Or perhaps it was that she was just sick of this life; this strange isolation, unable to meet with friends for coffee, see a movie or visit the library.

Her life in Africa had been much like this; but she'd felt more freedom there than she did on this island.


	7. Chapter 7: The Secret's In The Telling

**Chapter 7: The Secret's In The Telling**

When Dr. Juliet Burke first arrived on the island, Cooper liked her right away. She had a warm sunny smile and long, wavy golden blonde hair. Her eyes were crystal blue like the ocean; and she radiated a friendly glow that seemed to envelope everyone.

Cooper had missed her arrival; she was busy cleaning up things at The Staff, Ben said that was where they two were to do most of their work. She was in the operating theatre, organizing the freezer, when Juliet found her. "Cooper Mackenzie?"

With a jolt, Cooper turned. "Oh!" She dropped a handful of empty Petri dishes at her feet.

"Sorry," She said apologetically, immediately kneeling down to help her pick up the mess. "I'm Juliet; Ben said I could find you in here."

"Oh, yes, Juliet, of course," Cooper smiled and shook her hand, which she held as they both rose to their feet.. "How was your trip?"

"You mean being drugged and shipped across the ocean in a submarine?"

Cooper chuckled, showing Juliet where to set the dishes. "Yes, that's how I was brought here, too. Well," She gestured to the room around her. "Let's take a tour, shall we?"

For the better part of an hour, Cooper shepherded Juliet around The Staff, showing her where they'd be doing their work, explaining how she handled things, showing her the files on all the patients she'd lost. Juliet was very sympathetic, and just as confident as Cooper had been when she'd arrived, confident that they would find a cure.

On the walk back to The Barracks, Cooper and Juliet were still talking. "I only know what Ben has told me about your research," Cooper babbled. "He says you're exactly the person to help me."

Juliet flushed. "I don't know about that; but I've been researching infertility for years; and when my sister contracted cancer and the chemo made her sterile," She shrugged. "It just seemed like the next logical move; to try and help her."

"And you did." Cooper said. "Ben told me she conceived?"

Juliet beamed. "Yes, almost three months. I read some of your research before Ben took me to The Staff; it's very illuminating. I think we'll work well together."

**xxx**

When Juliet had completed setting up her part of the lab in The Staff, she had almost everything from her old lab back home. Everything movable, that is, which included a freezer of frozen sperm; the same one where she'd chosen the sample to impregnate Rachel. Whilst Cooper was helping her unpack at her home (right next door), she had found a photo of the sisters, smiling. From the washed out white colour of Rachel's skin, Cooper could easily tell she had been undergoing cancer treatment when the picture had been taken.

"That was her birthday," Juliet said as she heaved another box up onto the bookshelf behind Cooper. "She was sick so I just gave her a spa day in bed," She smiled; faint sadness in her eyes as they gazed at the picture.

"But, she's better now?" Cooper asked, trying to sound positive.

"In remission, yes." Juliet nodded. "Hopefully the pregnancy will keep her going. Until I get back, that is."

A pang of guilt slid across Cooper's stomach. _She thinks she's leaving..._Ben surely wouldn't have given her to Cooper for just a few months... this infertility problem could take years to solve. But, she kept her mouth shut. The prospect of returning home to her family would be a good motivational tool for Juliet in her work. And right now that was what Cooper needed.

Juliet's first patient was Eva. She was also the first woman Cooper aided to conceive through invetro-fertilization. Up until then; women had just fallen pregnant of their own accord, but the rising death rate was enough to cause many of them to avoid pregnancy at all costs.

Eva was one of those women who appeared already to be a mother, warm, maternal, loving; she just didn't have a baby. She came to Juliet and Cooper one afternoon, saying she was more than willing to try and conceive, knowing the risks of the island and the women who had died before her. She put her life into Juliet and Cooper's hands, and she paid the price.

Cooper tried to stay as confident as Juliet appeared to be. Who was she to be a downer? Juliet was using the same method that helped her sterile sister conceive, for all Cooper knew it might work. That's the mentality she took into Eva's pregnancy, and she kept it up as much as she could, even when Eva's shortness of breath kicked in quite severely during her twentieth week.

She was gone four days later.

But Juliet didn't react the way Cooper expected. Instead of wallowing in pity, she used her emotions to charge into her research; scribbling out crude timelines down to the hour of Eva's deterioration; hoping to pinpoint the exact stage where things went wrong. Cooper didn't want to tell her that Eva had died almost exactly the same way as Jane; but she did tell her, if only to aid in her research. Cooper showed her the charts and tables she herself had written up for each of her patients; noting when the symptoms began and how severe they were in each patient.

Juliet barely looked at Cooper as took the folders being given to her. "You knew she was going to die, didn't you?" she said almost as Cooper as out the door.

"Honestly, no..." Cooper said, turning back and leaning against the door-frame. "But every time I get a new patient I think they'll be fine. That _this_ time, I'll get it right." She sighed. "But... it never happens."

Juliet caught her eyes. "Hasn't happened, yet."

**xxx**

Juliet's confidence was admirable, it bordered on envious from Cooper's perspective. They lost two more patients, including Ethan's wife, Grace, within the next four months. Henrietta had been the other patient, unlike Grace; she had been impregnated like Eva. The speed at which both Grace and Henrietta had died was shocking even to Cooper; and it seemed to be the final straw for Juliet; whom Cooper found sobbing in a corner of her lab the afternoon of Henrietta's morning wedding.

"Juliet," Cooper said softly as she slid down beside her. "I'm sorry..."

"Why?" Juliet was hugging her knees, and rested the side of her face on them so she could see Cooper. "It's not your fault. I was brought here to save these women."

"So was I." Cooper reminded her. "You lose a patient, so do I." She bit her lip as tears welled in her eyes; she hated seeing Juliet so upset. "We're in this together..."

Juliet sighed and closed her exhausted eyes. "I know," She whispered, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her white coat.

"Maybe you could talk with Harper?"

Juliet chuckled lightly. "Harper hates me."

Cooper smirked. "She hates everyone; but she's good at her job."

Juliet frowned and shook her head. "I'll be alright, Cooper," She reached out and squeezed her hand. "Thank you."

"I'll go back to The Staff," Cooper offered, glad for the distraction. "Bring our research back here; it'll be nice to get out of that room for awhile." Juliet didn't protest, so Cooper took that as a 'yes' before leaving her friend alone with her sorrow; knowing that was what she wanted.

The lab here at The Barracks was much smaller and less equipped than the Staff; but Juliet appreciated the sunlight and peaceful surroundings, so she chose it to do most of her paperwork there. On Cooper's way out, she bumped into a familiar face. "Goodwin!" She greeted Harper's husband with a smile.

"Hi, Cooper, is the doctor in?" He nodded to Juliet's lab.

"Yes, but..." Her eyes fell on his wrist, which he was attempting to cover with a dirty rag. "What on earth happened to you?" She said, grabbing for his hand to inspect the wound, but he pulled away.

"It's nothing," He tried to look nonchalant. "Burn, got too close to the transformer."

Cooper smiled, and let him go without a question, even though he was a terrible liar. Juliet would see through him as well; so resolving she would get the full story later, Cooper headed for the Staff to gather up her paperwork.

**xxx**

Months later, what had begun as a weekly ritual quickly became the way Juliet and Cooper spent most of their nights together. They alternated cooking dinner in each of their homes, and then they spent the night going over the patient files and research notes, organizing and reorganizing everything, trying to find a new pattern. This evening found them at Juliet's apartment, both stretched out along one of her two sofas reading through graphs and blood test results.

"I'm sleeping with Goodwin." Juliet said as she turned a page, as if she was commenting on the weather.

Cooper was engrossed in the last results of Henrietta's autopsy, she thought she'd concocted the statement in her head, but when she glanced over and saw Juliet's ocean blue eyes boring into hers expectantly; she realized what she'd heard. "What?" She snapped upright on the couch. "Goodwin?"

Juliet was trying to keep her elation in check – he _was_ a married man – but she was excited. "Don't tell anyone." She said through a tight lipped smile.

"Who would I tell?" Cooper smirked. "Who'd have thought the Good Doctor Burke was a closet adulterer?"

Juliet responded by throwing a pen at her. "It's not like that. He's... wonderful."

"Well, from the vibes I get from Harper, that marriage has been dead _a long_ time." Cooper wasn't justifying her friend's actions; but she was just that; her friend. She wasn't going to scold her; she was old enough to make her own decisions. And that fact was; Cooper hadn't seen Juliet excited about something since she'd arrived on the island. "How long has this been going on?"

"A couple of months."

Cooper widened her eyes. "And I only find out about this _now_?"

Juliet giggled, she sounded like a teenager. "Well, now that you know... what do you think?"

"Well..." Cooper leant back in her chair and held her finger to her chin for effect. "He's handsome... rugged... masculine..." She nodded in approval. "Just be careful."

Juliet cast her a look that told her she was being silly. "Get back to work." She said, getting to her feet to clear up the plates that had once held Juliet's homemade pizza. "Want a drink?"

"Yes, please." Cooper said, rubbing the back of her neck at forming stress knot. She tossed the autopsy results back on Henrietta's file of lab tests and vaccine trials. Each patient had their own stack, and then copies of the results were sorted into time frames of when the symptoms started, when they ended, and then by severity.

"What are you thinking?" Juliet asked, handing her a tall, thin glass half-full of red wine.

Cooper sighed and took the glass. "Y'know there was something my old biology professor used to say over and over." She said. "If you put a frog in a pot of hot water, it'll just jump right out... but if you put it in cold water, and turn the heat up bit by bit... it'll just sit there, slowly boiling to death."

"Cooper; what the hell are you talking about?"

"We're the frog. Juliet, if we had arrived here today we would _know_ something was wrong with this place. Fifteen deaths between us in five years?" She shook her head. "We've been here too long, we're boiling."

"So... what do you propose we do?"

"We know more now than we did three years ago." Cooper said, a light bulb of an idea blazing in her head. "We know where the problem starts. Conception. So; what if we control that, too?"

"We've impregnated women before," Juliet said dejectedly, sipping her wine. "It didn't change anything."

"But we didn't administer your vaccine from the start." Cooper said; getting more and more excited about her plan. "I mean, _with_ the impregnation."

Juliet shook her head, and set her wine glass on tiny square inch free on the coffee table. "No; the dose of drugs would destroy the embryo before we'd even began-"

"So, adjust the dose, start out small, increase as we go along." Cooper's eyes were wide. "If we can monitor the whole pregnancy, from start to finish, test every day if we have to. Get your vaccine working right from the get go..." She saw both excitement and hesitation flicker across Juliet's features. "At least it's a new tactic."

Juliet, pausing for a moment considering that this might be a plausible action, frowned. "No; this will result in miscarriages until I get the right dose, I can't ask a woman to go through all of that..." She trailed off when she noticed Cooper's eyes; she knew her well enough to know what she was thinking right now. "No, Cooper, no! I am not going to inseminate you."

"Why not?" Cooper shuffled forwards eagerly. "I know all the risks. Hell, I've _documented_ the risks. I know what to expect. I can do this." She grinned. "_We_ can do this. I know we can."

Juliet was still clearly apprehensive. "It might not work... you could die-"

"Juliet I've been on this island longer than you have; and I can tell you with all honesty," She smiled. "That there is no one that I trust here more than you."

With her eyes sparkling like the tide at sunrise, Juliet found herself grinning. To keep the experiment between two people, it would shorten the number of variables, she could be completely candid with Cooper about what was happening to her body... in some ways, it would be easier than how they had been conducting the vaccine trials so far. "Okay." Juliet said after a moment. "Ok... we'll do this. Our way." She reached across the table for Cooper's hand.

Smiling in success, Cooper snatched for Juliet's fingers and squeezed. "Our way."

**xxx**


	8. Chapter 8: Welcome To My Truth

**Chapter 8: Welcome To My Truth**

"Sun's pregnant." Juliet said to Cooper in the days following her successful injections of vaccine to Claire. The camp was still wary of the outsiders, but Claire's full recovery was a big help. There were less evil stares now.

Cooper had been feeling generally quite well, and was folding dry clothes at her tent with Juliet greeted her with the news about Sun. "Are you sure?"

"She told me herself," Juliet said, looking a little flustered. "Yelled it at me, more like it. Screamed at me until I told her the truth."

Cooper stopped folding the jeans in her hands. "The truth?"

Juliet nodded and knelt down in the sand in front of her friend. "I told her pregnant women die on this island. But don't worry," She smiled. "I didn't say anything about you."

Chewing the inside of her mouth; Cooper sighed. "What happens now?"

Juliet frowned. "I want to take her to the Staff... if she conceived off the island; her maybe should be okay... like Aaron." She shrugged. "But, if she conceived here..."

Cooper finished folding her clothes, if Sun conceived here than she and Cooper were more alike than first thought. "Ok... well; we haven't been to the Staff since Ethan took Claire, there..." She muttered. Ethan kidnapping Claire had been a real spanner in the works for Juliet and Cooper's research; they'd basically had to abandon everything at the Staff and move things into hiding. That's when they decided to continue their work in secret. When the plane crashed; Ben had told Juliet that she would find more mothers in the survivors.

"I think I can convince Sun to let me do an ultrasound," Juliet continued. "It's the only way to help her baby – and yours. Tonight, late, we'll take her there."

Cooper nodded, picking up her clothes and setting them on her hip. "Ok." She smiled confidently. It was easy for her to put her faith in Juliet; she hadn't let her down once yet. "Just wake me." With a smile, the two parted ways and Cooper headed back to her tent.

She'd been feeling cramps in her side all day, but they hadn't really bothered her. However suddenly, a sharp pang cut her side catching her so off guard that she dropped all her laundry.

"Need a hand?"

"Hello, Jack." Cooper smiled at him as he jogged beside her.

"Oh, yes, thank you." She let him pick up her washing. "Just a cramp, I guess." She tried to look nonchalant, thankfully the pain was ebbing away. "I must have slept on a rock or something."

Jack nodded knowledgeably. "Yeah; happens when you sleep on the beach."

"Is Claire better?"

"Much. Whatever's in that vaccine worked like magic."

Cooper chuckled. "You are a doctor, aren't you, Jack? You people don't believe in magic. Certainly when it comes to healthcare."

"No," Jack shared her laugh. "No, I guess not."

They arrived at Cooper's tent and Jack set her washing beside her one wall; a piece of the Oceanic wreckage with half of the name visible. "Thank you," Cooper smiled at him, feeling suddenly very dizzy. "I think I ..." She hadn't realized she'd fallen forwards until she felt herself being lowered to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Jack was saying, his eyes very concerned as he helped her into the shade of her tent.

"Yes," Cooper said quickly, trying to ignore her spinning head. "The heat." She rolled her eyes. "I'm from England, and even after all this time I still haven't quite adjusted."

Jack took one of the water bottles stacked at the back of Cooper's tent. "Here, sip it slowly." Cooper thanked him again and took a small gulp of water. "So, you seem as eager as any of us to get off this island," He said, swiftly changing the subject. "You have something – someone – to get back to?"

Cooper sighed and shook her head. "My father," She smiled. "He runs a library in England."

Jack frowned. "Your mother...?"

"She died when I was twenty-two," Cooper revealed. "Cancer." She smiled at her mother's memory.

"I'm sorry."

"I know your father died in Sydney," Cooper told him. "Condolences."

Jack just nodded. "How much do you know about me – us?"

Cooper sighed and glanced around the camp. "Just about everything..." She said. "Everything that would have a record. It's amazing how much of our lives are printed on paper."

"So... you know everything about us... and we know nothing about you."

Cooper was always wary of this question. "What would you like to know?" She asked cautiously, knowing she was opening the door for a myriad of questions she would prefer not to answer.

"What do you do here?" He asked. "What did Ben bring you here for?"

Taking a deep breath, Cooper let her eyes wander out to the ocean. "I was a twin." She said quietly. "When I was born; my parents hadn't planned on it. My sister... her name would have been Cassie... she was stillborn. And after that; my mother was never able to conceive again." She laughed to mask the tears in her eyes. "I know it's silly to blame myself for her infertility; but I do. That's what made me pursue that field of medicine." She leant her elbows against her knees. "I was never very good at the scientific aspect of it; but I just always knew I needed to be around children." She could tell Jack was hanging on her every word, and she wondered if he was waiting for her to slip up, divulge a big secret. "I worked overseas a lot. Rwanda, mostly. It was there I was offered the position to come here; to help figure out why women can't give birth on this island."

Jack's handsome face became puzzled. "Why you?"

Cooper shrugged. "They liked my approach to midwifery." She glanced at him. "Of course, it didn't help. I haven't been able to save a single patient since I've been here."

"Claire's safe." Jack pointed out.

Cooper felt a pang of guilt. Of course Claire had been saved, because her microchip had been activated to give Juliet a way of coming to the rescue in the eyes of the survivors, give them reason to trust her. But she pushed past the guilt, and managed a confident smile. "Yes. Yes, she is." She reached out and squeezed Jack's wrist. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Talking with me." She gazed up at the camp again. "I guess I'll always be an outsider here, but..." She smiled again. "Just, thank you."

**

* * *

**

Juliet managed to convince Sun to come with her to the Staff in the very early hours of the morning. Juliet had woken Cooper first, and told her to get things ready at the Staff for the procedure. Sun was pregnant, conceived on the island to her husband which seemed to relieve her more than anything else. She divulged to Juliet and Cooper that she had been unfaithful in her marriage; and thus it was hard for her to hope that her child was conceived off of the island because it meant the baby was not that of her husband. Consequently; she was now in the same boat as Cooper. She needed to get off the island. Soon.

It was only after Sun's ultrasound, showing a healthy eight week old foetus, that Cooper decided to reveal to Sun that she was pregnant, too. She didn't know if it was Sun's tears, or Juliet's jubilance at giving good news again, but Cooper just felt it was the right time. And Sun's reaction pleasantly surprised her; she didn't seem shocked or betrayed or anything negative. Instead, she took Cooper's hand and squeezed it, for a moment the two women were connected. Both mothers, both desperate for a way home.

After the eventful early morning, the trio were all eager to get back out into the fresh air. Cooper led the way, Sun just behind her, while Juliet hung brought up the rear. Sun then confided in Juliet that she was glad the baby was Jin's.

"You gave me good news, Juliet." Sun thanked her as the trio left the Staff some time after sunrise.

"It was my pleasure, Sun." Juliet smiled. "I'm gonna go back inside and make sure that I didn't miss anything, I don't wanna take the chance that we didn't cover our tracks." She eyed Cooper and Sun. "Do you two wanna wait out here?"

"Why don't we just meet you back at camp?" Cooper offered, knowing Juliet had to go into the Staff and leave a tape for Ben divulging the information about Sun. "It would be more suspicious if all three of us are missing; instead of just one."

Juliet nodded. "I'll see you back there." She retreated back into the Staff.

As Cooper and Sun walked the path back to camp, it began to rain. Just lightly at first, but enough to make Cooper thankful she'd worn her hoodie.

"Why is it that you don't want people to know you are pregnant?" Sun asked as they walked. "Is it because you know what will happen to us if we stay here?"

Cooper smiled when she said 'us', it made her feel like she wasn't alone for once. It was a small comfort; but a welcome one. "Yes." She confirmed. "All I want is a way home, to be off of this island so my baby will be born safely." She smiled. "I worry that if I tell people... I'll become an... obstacle."

"I won't tell anyone." Sun promised. "I know what it's like to change your life as swiftly as you did. Leaving The Others... and coming to us." She gave a peaceful smile. "What you are doing is for your child, I understand that completely."

Cooper felt relieved tears well in her eyes. "Thank you, Sun."

They were well on the way back to camp now, the path was clearing out and the sand was getting thicker beneath their feet. Sun walked on ahead, the ocean was in sight. Cooper let herself dawdle, she was rarely up at this time of the morning but the adored it; the smell of the cool air brushing from the foliage around her; it was so soothing, even with the rain falling heavier.

Her calm walk was cut short when a gruff arm grabbed her and spun her around. It was Jack.

"Oh, you scared me!" She laughed, but then saw the stern look on his face.

"I followed you." He said as the rain started to pour down on them. "I saw you and Juliet take Sun away."

"Sun is fine." Cooper assured him.

"I know." Jack said, still gripping her arm. "Cooper. You're lying to me."

Affronted, Cooper wrenched her arm from his grasp. "What are you talking about?"

"If there's something that you need to tell me, now's the time to do it."

Cooper made a face at him. After all this time she'd thought he trusted her; but it was all a ruse "You... are just unbelievable!"

"I gave you the benefit of the doubt." Jack snapped. "I trusted you; when no one else did. And you've been lying to me."

Cooper's mouth fell open. "I didn't want to lie, Jack! I had to! Because believe it or not; some things are bigger than you!"

Jack looked like he was about to laugh. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm pregnant!" She took a few steadying breaths, letting only the sound of the rain cut through their silence. "I'm pregnant." She said again, partly relieved that she'd finally revealed her secret. "Juliet and I have been trying for years to solve the infertility problem on this island. We've lost so many patients... we thought if she tested on me; right from the start, we'd be able to control it... but then you crashed on this island and... and it changed everything." She was glad it was raining, because that meant he couldn't see her crying. "Ben doesn't know that I'm pregnant, if he finds out he'll take me back and I won't go!" She smoothed her drenched hair off of her face. "And if he stops me from doing my work... then I'm nothing! I'm just... nobody!" She held her hands to her belly. "This is what makes me who I am, and I will not let Ben take it from me."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Jack said in the moments of silence that followed her mammoth speech. "This is why you've been sick, isn't it?"

Cooper could only shrug. "Why would I tell you?" She asked. "There is _nothing_ you can do for me." With that she turned, and walked through the rain back to her tent. Sun knew, Jack knew... would Jack tell Kate? Would Sun tell Jin? Surely it was now only a matter of time before the camp knew that Cooper was pregnant, and thus a hazard to them. She had Juliet at her side; and that was it.

Hopefully, that was enough.


	9. Chapter 9: Ironic Coincidence

**Chapter 10: Ironic Coincidence**

Cooper's pregnancy soon became common knowledge to the camp. Someone said they overheard her screaming at Jack in the rain; the rumours spread, and once asked Cooper didn't see the point in lying and confirmed what they were all thinking anyway.

The truth coming out definitely changed the way the campsite saw her; and not for the better. Now she was tainted, pregnant women died on this island, so they avoided her as though whatever ailment that she had coursing through her veins might be contagious; even the men. Other than Jack; that is, who now that he knew the truth; was quite concerned about Cooper's health.

Three mornings after her little outburst in the rain; Cooper found herself at Jack's tent getting a check-up. It seemed somewhat rustic considering she was sitting in the sand and he took her pulse at her wrists with his fingertips, but she didn't mind. She also knew Jack was just using the 'check-up' as an opportunity to question her about her pregnancy, Juliet, their experiments. She didn't give much away; there wasn't a point to it really, was there? He couldn't do anything, the only person who had a shot at helping her was Juliet; and she told Jack as much. He was a spinal surgeon after all; Juliet was the fertility specialist.

So when Jack began to ask her about her symptoms, Cooper dodged the question and decided to reveal something else; something she knew he would find just as – if not more – interesting than her condition. "Would you like to hear something odd?" She asked as Jack now took her pulse at her neck to double check.

"Sure."

"I was in a plane crash, too."

Jack dropped his hands and almost smiled at her. "Yeah?"

Cooper nodded; the irony of it wasn't lost on her, either. "Much smaller scale than yours, of course. Ours didn't even make the news."

"Where was it?"

"Vietnam." Cooper said, a little stunned at how quickly all of those feelings came rushing back to her. And suddenly these feelings reminded her of why she had only recounted this story a handful of times; and not once since the month she'd met Juliet. "I was in small aircraft, just the four of us, we had food supplies for this camp I was setting up to help with the Dengue epidemic... and it just..." Cooper felt her eyes mist over. "The first thing I remember... was how loud it was..."

**xxx**_  
8 years ago  
Southern Vietnam_

Cooper loved flying, especially in such a weightless aircraft. It made her feel lighter than air. The fact that Vietnam provided a simply beautiful view from her window was just a bonus.

"Coop?"

The view was misleading; anyone flying overhead could be forgiven for thinking what appeared to be a serene expanse of lakes, waterfalls and lush forests were no more than beautiful landmarks between cities. Cooper, and everyone on her plane, were there because the truth was the exact opposite. It was in the centre of one of these forests that they had helped the Red Cross set up a treatment camp for a Dengue outbreak. It had been the leading cause of death in children up to the age of fourteen since the late sixties, but this year had brought a sudden rise in Dengue cases, hence why Cooper and her team were flying to the camp with supplies.

The crew consisted their pilot, Alan, who looked like a hard-ass but was really a giant sweetheart, he even called his wife before every flight he piloted to tell her that he loved her. Next was the ringleader of the whole camp, Jolie Evans, she was the doctor who had selected Cooper for this voyage, she had been a guest lecturer at the university whom Cooper formed a bond with over their mutual endeavours to help the 'forgotten children' of the third world; and finally Damon, a trained ID (infectious disease) Specialist who had been watching this outbreak for the past two years, and also happened to be Cooper's boyfriend.

"Coop!" Damon called again; louder this time since she hadn't acknowledged his first call.

"Yes, I hear you," Cooper smirked; still gazing at the view outside. "What is it?" She turned to her boyfriend, smiling when she saw the vague flicker of annoyance that always crossed his eyes when she didn't listen.

"You double checked the vaccines, right?"

"Yes, dear," Cooper said patronizingly. A year into their relationship and he still asked her questions she knew he knew the answer to. "Twice before we boarded, and then twice before we took off," She rubbed his knee gently with her palm. "We have everything; we'll be fine."

Damon gave her a smile and then put his larger hand over her fingers and squeezed. He wasn't as calm with the flying as Cooper was; he much preferred driving himself across Vietnam in a jeep or even a bike; but it was a seven hour flight from the base where they loaded the plane to the camp. The patients' needs for the medicine, water, and basic food won out over his anxiety of being in the air. It was that attitude that had attracted Cooper. That, and his charming, almost regal good looks. His sandy blonde hair was in a ragged mess on top of his head, as always, but that and his pale blue eyes and laugh lines around his thin lips made him just that more adorable to Cooper.

"Landing in an hour," Alan spoke over his shoulder as he easily steered them around a mountain in the distance. "Should we wake up my co-pilot?"

Jolie was as used to flying as Cooper; and had taken the opportunity to get some sleep the moment they took off from the base. She elected the co-pilots seat so they could load more cargo into the rear of the plane.

"Let her sleep," Cooper told Alan with a smirk. "She's not good conversation right after she wakes up."

Alan chuckled and kept his eyes on the sky. "Whatever you say, ma'am."

The plane shuddered slightly as they curved around the mountain, and Damon's hand tightened around Cooper's fingers. "Don't worry, love," She said, cuddling his arm to her side and resting her head on his firm shoulder. "We'll be landing soon."

"The sooner the better." He said, kissing her gently on her forehead.

The plane shuddered again, so much so that Cooper's head slid off Damon's shoulder. "Oh," She gasped a little as she shifted forwards in her chair. "Jeez, Alan, a little warning next time would be nice."

"Sorry," Alan said, though his voice sounded like something more than just apologetic.

"Alan?" Cooper leaned forwards and caught the look of worry clear in Alan's navy blue eyes. "What's wrong?"

"We'll straighten out," Alan said, a wobbly smile trembling at his lips. "Just sit back."

"What's g-going on?" Josie stammered out of her nap when the plane reared forwards, sending her head into the side of the door.

"Please, sit tight!" Alan snapped, one of the rare occasions where he actually _did_ raise his voice.

"What?" Josie turned her weary eyes back to Damon and Cooper; she saw the same puzzled expression she knew was mirrored on her own face.

The plane engine stuttered, puffed, clicked... and then nothing.

"Oh, hell," Alan mumbled under his breath, flicking numerous switches on the control panel in front of him. "Oh, hell, hell, hell! The engine's dead!"

"What? What the hell does that mean?" Damon still gripped Cooper's hand as he stared worriedly out the window as they quietly glided through the air. The silence was terrifying.

"Alan?" Cooper's heart was thumping into her throat; but she managed to yell through it. "Talk to us!"

"We're going to crash." Alan said blatantly.

"Crash?" Josie repeated in horror. "What? Ca-can't you land us somewhere, like in water?"

"Closest lake is twenty minutes ahead," Alan said through gritted teeth as he sent out a mayday call on his radio. "We won't make it."

Cooper had a perhaps delirious thought that they might just coast down and land safely on the treetops, before her rational mind reminded her that as they descended, the plane would pick up speed. They were like a bullet firing into the ground.

"What do we do?" Damon asked.

"Hold on." Alan said with a useless shrug, ripping off his headset to give full control to the task ahead of him.

Terrified, Cooper turned to Damon and suddenly realized he looked calmer than she felt. He was the one who hated planes, and she was the one panicking. "Damon!" Cooper grabbed for his face and stroked his cheeks; as if trying to memorize him, stamp him into her fingertips.

"Cooper, everything will be okay." He smiled and tucked a strand of her brown hair behind her ear, cupping her cheek in his palm as he did so. "I love you," He said, kissing her fast. "I love you so much."

"No," Cooper felt tears running down her cheeks as the plane dipped sharply forwards. "Don't say goodbye." She flung her arms around him. "We'll both get through this." She whispered shakily into his ear; hearing the wind pick up around them as they sped up.

"Cooper; tell me you love me," Damon said, running his hand across the crown of her head. He could already see the treetops out the window. "Please."

Pulling her arms from him, Cooper made herself smile. "I love you, Damon. I love you. I always have." This time, his kiss was softer, gentler, and full of love.

It was the last thing Cooper remembered before the plane nosedived through the roof of forest trees and rocketed into the ground.

The plane didn't stop there. It rolled; at least twice, and with the speed they lost the wings, the propeller and every window smashed upon impact.

The sound was deafening. Loud didn't cover it. It seemed as though every pipe, every wire and everything breakable in the aircraft shattered at the same time and then exploded. The bang rang through the forest like a deep, cruel bell tolling on the hour.

Cooper woke up on the ground, face in the mud. She first thought she was underwater, with the cool liquid against her cheek, but she realized right away that her legs were moving and she was on solid ground.

The smell of fuel and burning wood was the first thing Cooper noticed when she breathed in. She could feel aches and pains all over her body; her bones felt broken, but she could still move them. There was something warm trickling down the side of her head near her ear; blood. Her hands were dirty from the mud; but she was alive.

Her plane had crashed... and she was alive.

The thoughts came into her mind slowly as her body tried to get back into working order. Her ears were ringing, just like when she'd been to a concert when she was younger and had been standing ear to ear with the speaker. Even without one of her senses, Cooper could _feel_ the flames from the aircraft. Turning to her right; she saw the back of the machine; the part with all the important cargo – vaccines, water, food, bandages... all gone, all in cinders. For a moment Cooper tried to calculate the deaths that would stem from not getting these supplies. Then she saw her seat; melted into the frame of the craft itself; and remembered Damon.

"DAMON!" She cried out; though even in her own ears her voice was muffled, like she had headphones on.

Legs wobbling as she took daring steps closer to the wreck; Cooper looked for Alan and Jolie, as well as her boyfriend. She saw no one; and at first that was a relief. She had seen the aftermath of numerous bomb blasts; and was unfortunately too familiar with the sight of burning corpses. But quickly; the fact that she could see no one at all made her anxious.

"Someone?" She yelled, tapering herself around the plane wreck with enough distance that she could feel the heat from the flames, but not enough to burn her. A hand grab her elbow and spun her around, her scream caught in her throat as she spied Jolie in front of her.

"There you are!" Jolie said; already inspecting the wounds on Cooper's head. "I saw you flung from the plane; you went straight out the window..."

Cooper could hear some of what she was saying; the rest was as muffled as her own voice. "Damon," She grabbed Jolie's wrist and stopped her fussing over her skin. "Damon! Alan! Where are they?"

Jolie's face was stricken; horrified with obvious grief. "I'm sorry, Cooper," She said.

Even though Cooper couldn't hear the apology; she recognized the shape Jolie's lips made as she spoke. Over her friend's shoulder; she could see two bodies. One, pulling himself into a sitting position while holding a hand over his bleeding ear. Alan. The other... unmoving.

"No..." Cooper stumbled towards the body of her boyfriend. He seemed to have received the worst injuries of them all. His legs were burnt to a crisp; the smell of singed flesh stung Cooper's nostrils as she fell to her knees by his shoulders. There was a hole in the side of his body, and nearby a piece of shrapnel that Jolie had no doubt removed when trying to save his life. But Cooper could tell quite easily, that Damon had died the moment the plane had crashed. He hadn't had a chance, and Jolie had probably risked her life just to retrieve his body.

Tears washing the dirt and blood down her face in tiny trickles, Cooper leant over Damon's body and kissed his forehead in one of the few places that seemed to still have skin intact. She could still see his laugh lines across his cheeks, but his beautiful eyes were closed. She loved his eyes; and he hers, and it was a running joke between them that their children would have the most beautiful eyes anyone had ever seen.

But that was a future that was gone; as dead as the figure in Cooper's arms.

**xxx**


	10. Chapter 10: Binding

**Chapter 11: Binding**

Karl showing up at the beach startled Cooper and Juliet as much as it did everyone else. Sayid tackled him down; seeing him as an enemy, before Sawyer stopped him; revealing he knew the kid. They had shared the cages before Karl was replaced with Kate on the other island.

His appearance sprang the survivors into action. Charlie was going with Desmond to swim down to the Looking Glass hatch to turn off the interference with the radio tower to allow radio contact to extend beyond the island. Ben had always been fanatic about keeping the frequency very close to the island; but it was the possibility of getting that radio call out there; to the boat Naomi, an injured parachutist who'd dropped on the island the day before, and her team had come from.

The boat was Cooper's rescue; and she couldn't wait to get there.

Karl warned the survivors that his people were coming to storm the camp to kidnap the women whose tents had been marked with white rocks, as Ben had instructed Juliet. But Juliet had revealed her plan to Jack; and now everyone seemed to at least believe that Juliet and Cooper weren't going to try and kill them. Cooper's pregnancy was something that Karl did not mention, and that gave Cooper the hope that maybe Ben didn't know yet, and that's why she was still safe.

The morning that the survivors planned to trek to the radio tower, leaving Jin, Bernard and Sayid behind to ambush whoever came through their camp, Juliet woke Cooper up at sunrise. She wanted to get one last check at her baby before they were set for rescue. There was no telling what kind of medical care, if any, was on the boat that was floating nearby. And it might be a week or so before they were able to get back to dry land and an actual hospital; so Juliet wanted to be as informed as she could be about Cooper's baby.

Tired from a sleepless night, Cooper trudged after Juliet as they wandered through the jungle. Morning sickness was setting in, and while Cooper didn't actually throw up, she didn't dare try and eat anything either.

Once she was in the station, sitting up on the examining chair with her head laid back, she felt better. Her heart was racing; it always did when Juliet did these checkups. Cooper knew they were both terrified they would see an unmoving foetus on the screen. It was still early in Cooper's pregnancy, and since she wasn't showing it was unlikely that she could feel her baby moving; but that didn't mean that he or she wasn't – it was still too early to discover the sex of the baby, too.

Relief beamed on both women's faces as soon as Juliet pressed the wand of the ultrasound monitor to Cooper's abdomen. The baby's heartbeat fluttered through the speakers, healthy and strong.

"Is it growing?" Cooper asked, craning her neck around Juliet's head to get a better look.

"Yes," Juliet hit a few buttons on the monitors' keypad. "Perfect length... perfect heartbeat... everything's growing fine..." She let out a breath she had been keeping in her throat.

"That's amazing." Cooper said; transfixed to her child's little black and white form floating on the screen.

"Cooper; I have to tell you something."

Immediately alarmed, Cooper sat straight up, her amazement dissipating in an instant. "What? Is it the baby? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I promise." She smiled her easy, calming smile and quickly patted Cooper's knee reassuringly. "It's something I didn't think was relevant... but now... maybe it is."

Still alarmed, Cooper narrowed her eyes. "What is it, Juliet?"

"The baby's father... the donor..." Juliet exhaled and smiled gently. "He's the same anonymous donor I used with Rachel."

Cooper held in a tight breath. Rachel. Juliet's sister, whose body had been ravaged by cancer and yet Juliet had managed to help her conceive a son, Julian. A son Juliet was still yet to meet; Ben refused to let her go home to her now healthy sister and almost three-year-old nephew.

Julian would be the half-brother to Cooper's baby.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Cooper's mind was racing; she had been involved in this from the start, why had Juliet kept it from her?

"I didn't want to get your hopes up." Juliet said. "I thought if I told you, you'd get excited and... and that this one would be even harder for you – _for us_ – to lose. I couldn't do that to you."

Cooper didn't feel angry, should she? It wasn't as though she would ever meet the donor; Juliet didn't even know who he was, hence the term _anonymous_ written on his sample. Instead of anger, she found herself feeling something else. Elation. "So...this really is _our_ baby," She said with a wry grin. Sure, her baby only shared DNA with Julian, not Juliet or her sister; but Juliet's involvement in each pregnancy was as good as a family bond to Cooper.

"You're not mad." Juliet seemed surprised.

"No," Cooper grinned, feeling relieved as a wave of nausea passed right over her as if it had never been there. "Now you have more reason to get home to Rachel and Julian; and another family member to deliver."

"You really think its rescue then?" Juliet said as she packed up the ultrasound monitor. "The boat?"

"It's the closest shot we've had since they crashed here, Jules," Cooper reminded her with a fading smile, thinking of the survivors she'd come to depend on over the past weeks. "Gotta stay positive, right?"

Juliet smiled, calm as ever, and helped her friend up off the examining table. "You got it."

Together; they shut up the hatch and headed back to the beach camp where the others were all just starting to wake up for the big day ahead; the day they would head into the jungle to find rescue.

Cooper hadn't felt this positive since the day Juliet told her she was pregnant with this child. Something in her body clicked; she would have this baby; this time it _would work_. Her baby would be born. She just knew it; and her heart refused to take any other outcome.

**xxx**


	11. Chapter 11: Acres

**Chapter 11: Acres**

For the first time in a long while; Cooper was nervous. And it was because Juliet wasn't with her anymore.

The survivors plan had apparently not gone to plan, so Sawyer and Juliet volunteered to go back to the camp to check things out, Cooper wanted to go with them, but Juliet told her to stay with Jack. Annoyed, but too tired to argue with her friend, Cooper relented and was now resting by a creek nearby Claire while Jack tended to a few cuts and scrapes his people had suffered on the hike.

Aaron was fussing and making a coughing noise Cooper immediately recognized as wind; he needed to be burped. Shifting to the rock closer to Claire, Cooper gently offered the young mother this information. "It happens when they lie on their backs too often after being fed," She said.

Claire scowled. "Thanks," She muttered. "I'm just so new at all this."

"Do you mind...?" Cooper asked, raising her eyebrows and extending her arms to the infant.

With obvious trepidation, Claire bit her bottom lip and removed Aaron from his sling and passed him carefully over to Cooper.

Unable not to smile at the gorgeous baby boy, Cooper rested him against her shoulder and gently patted his back. It only took a moment for him to gurgle and burp simultaneously. "That's better."

"So, you're a doctor, right?" Claire asked, relaxing when she saw how calm Aaron was.

"Midwife, actually," Cooper said with a smile, resting Aaron in the crook of her arm; he started to suck on his fist. "I mostly worked in Africa, Vietnam... until I was asked to come here."

"Yeah, ah, Sun was telling me what Juliet said..." Claire said quietly. "That pregnant women die here..."

Cooper nodded, and then looked up to Claire. "You were a wonderful exception." She smiled, and then glanced down to Aaron. "As was this one. He was born healthy," She stroked the side of his soft, rosy cheek. "Weren't you, my beautiful, beautiful darling," She smiled down at him as he opened his mouth in a big yawn.

"At least we're getting rescued soon," Claire said hopefully as Cooper passed her son back over to her. "And you'll get to have your baby in an actual hospital, not in the middle of a creepy jungle."

Claire's optimism made Cooper feel stronger for the first time since Juliet had traipsed off with Sawyer. "Let's hope so," She smiled.

"Hey, Claire," Jack knelt in front of Cooper. "Can I talk to Cooper alone for a second?"

"Sure," Claire gathered up Aaron, smiled once more at Cooper, and then took her son over to Sun and Rose.

"Alone?" Cooper gave Jack a wry grin as he took her pulse at her wrists.

"Doctor/patient." Jack replied. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired. Dizzy. Thirsty. Nauseous." Cooper listed.

"Here," Jack pushed his water bottle into her hands and watched her drink. "You have to stay hydrated; I shouldn't have to tell you that."

"Sorry, _sir_," Cooper teased him. "I was more concerned with hiking halfway through a part of the jungle I've never been to."

Jack's brow crinkled. "You've never been to the radio tower?"

Cooper sighed, taken a long drink of water, before she answered him. "Ben wasn't very... lenient with where he allowed us to go."

Jack had to laugh at this. "This from a woman who orchestrated her own pregnancy right under Ben's nose?"

"Well, when you put it that way." Cooper giggled, but it turned into a cough, and that cough wouldn't stop.

"Hey, lean forward," Jack sat beside her and pushed her shoulders down. "Breathe in real slow."

Cooper breathed in; but it was as though her throat wouldn't take in enough air and she just coughed again. "I can't..." She coughed and heaved her chest, which only made her convulse more violently. "Jack." Frightened, Cooper grabbed his hand and squeezed it, as if it would somehow release the tension on her throat and allow her to breathe.

"Ok, it's ok, Cooper?" Jack knelt in front of her. "You have to breathe through your nose, and I know it's gonna be hard but you have to, okay?"

Cooper inhaled sharply and coughed again. Was it happening? The shortness of breath; this was a symptom. As soon as the patients started experiencing it; it never went away, she could only control it with an oxygen mask; something she definitely did not have in her backpack.

"Cooper!" Jack was in front of her, holding both of her hands and staring intently into her eyes. "Breathe. Through. Your. Nose." He squeezed her hands with each word.

Tears in her eyes, Cooper clamped her mouth shut and drew a breath in through her nostrils. Jack was breathing with her; she couldn't tell whose benefit it was for; she knew Jack had a habit of wanting to fix things; and here she was, in dire need of fixing.

Finally; a breath held in her lungs, and she was able to breathe it out through her nostrils without having a coughing conniption.

"Good," Jack smiled, nodding to her to keep breathing. "Good, just like that."

Her panic subsiding, Cooper concentrated on her deep breathing, and eventually she felt fine; like nothing had happened, except now she was just holding Jack's hands and everyone was watching her like she was about to explode.

"Is she okay?" Kate asked; breaking from the group and kneeling before Cooper; unscrewing the top of her water bottle as she crouched.

"I'm fine." Cooper managed to answer on her own, a shaky smile tweaking at the corners of her mouth. "I just... water went down the wrong pipe," She tried to project a confidence to all the concerned eyes on her. "I'm alright, really." Slowly she took a sip from Kate's water bottle and was grateful it didn't come back up.

They rested for another ten minutes before Jack announced it was time to move on. Kate took the lead, and Jack stayed with Cooper, helping her to her feet, watching her walk, making sure she always had a water bottle in her hand and rested every few minutes, especially if they went up an incline. She had to give him props for not getting impatient with her, and she wondered why that was.

Perhaps his fixing things extended to her unborn child; someone else in danger, someone else he saw a possibility of saving. It was as though he was searching for redemption for something he'd done wrong, Cooper had read everything in his file twice and there was nothing to indicate that attitude. He'd never been sued for malpractice, didn't have a high patient death rate or something that would tell Cooper he felt guilty. Other than the issues with his father... maybe that was it, his severe Daddy issues were why he was on this never ending path to salvation.

Jack was a good man; Cooper didn't understand how he could have such a weight on his shoulder that seemed to be unmovable. And no amount of love, lives saved or people helped could shift it. And in the midst of all the support Jack was giving her; Cooper could only feel pity for the man adjusting his plans to keep her alive.

**xxx**


	12. Chapter 12: Time Flies

**Chapter 12: Time Flies**

"_Cooper? You have to wake up! Come on, honey, wake up; please!_"

Angered at the noise interrupting her sleep, Cooper stirred wondering why Juliet was so aggravated with her. "Hm?" She groaned, turning in her bed, wondering when her mattress had become so hard... and dirty... and why did it smell like mud?

"Cooper? Come on."

_Why is Jack in my bedroom_, Cooper thought. "Wha...?"

"Cooper; you collapsed again, please wake up,"

Juliet sounded like she was crying. Worried; Cooper forced her eyes open, realizing they were very, very heavy. She had no idea where she was; definitely still on the island but nowhere near the radio tower; the trees had thinned out when they were getting close; that's what Danielle said... with a stab of fear, Cooper realized that was the last thing she remembered... walking that path just behind Claire. The sun had been beating down on them at the time; now it was afternoon, at the least, and there were heavy rain clouds sitting in the sky.

"Juliet?" Cooper couldn't believe the voice that came from her mouth was her own. She sounded so weak; like a child.

"It's ok, you're awake now," Juliet's voice was rushed as she shifted closer to her friend, applying a damp cloth to her forehead. "Everything's gonna be okay."

Now more aware of her surroundings, Cooper could see Jack on her right side and Juliet fussing over her left shoulder. "What... happened? Rescue?"

Juliet nodded, but her smile was tense. "They arrived, their chopper got disoriented in the storm; but the pilot landed it safely."

"So... we can go home?" Cooper wished her voice had some hope in it; but it just sounded tired.

"Soon," Juliet said. "You've been unconscious for two days."

Cooper would've sat bolt upright if her muscles and limbs didn't feel like jelly. _Two days!_ Her brain was racing so fast it gave her a headache. _I've been unconscious for two freaking days! _

"A lot of things have happened," Jack said gravely.

Cooper didn't really understand him. "Rescue's here... how can things be bad?" She reached out to Juliet who helped her sit up. She glanced around the camp and noticed how few people were milling around, namely missing to Cooper were Claire and her son, Hurley, Sawyer and Locke. It seemed as though at a third of the survivors were gone. "Where is everyone?"

Juliet was the one to explain everything to Cooper. Charlie's death after managing to successfully get the signal out, the freighter responding to Jack's distress call, Hurley addressing the group and telling them about Charlie's final act; to warn them that the boat did not contain the people they expected, Penny's people; Desmond's former girlfriend who was desperately searching for him. And after Hurley's speech, the survivors separated.

Locke lead a group to the Barracks, Cooper and Juliet's former home, while Jack put his faith, and that of those who sided with him, in the rescuers. Whether they were who they said or not; they had a boat. They were a way out.

Since she was unconscious for this whole ordeal, Juliet had made Cooper's decisions for her, and that was to get her friend off the island. The freighter was the way. Thankfully, Sun, also pregnant, and Jin decided to stay with Jack as well. Also thankfully, Sun wasn't showing symptoms yet other than mild morning sickness while Cooper was dealing with her body's harsh reaction to her own, unborn baby.

"How did I get here?" Cooper pushed back against something hard behind her, a thick tree trunk, and took the water bottle Jack offered her. Her vision was a little blurry; but she was sure she was imagining the chopper sitting just ahead of her in a clearing. "Is that what I think it is or are the hallucinations setting in?"

Jack chuckled. "Yeah; it's real. Sayid's going to fly back to the freighter with Desmond to check things out... and, ah, I carried you here."

"Carried me?" Cooper repeated.

"Yes, for almost two full days." Juliet said. "I thought... you were..." She stopped herself speaking; tears flushing back to her eyes.

"I'm not gonna die, Jules," Cooper assured her. "It'll take more than a poisonous island to get rid of me."

Juliet smiled and wiped her eyes with the edge of her thumbs. "I'll get you some water," She said, taking Jack's half-empty water bottle and heading towards the chopper.

"You did it," Cooper said tiredly, her eyes turning to Jack. "You got us rescued," She almost burst into tears she was so happy. He had done what she and Juliet had been trying for years to do; found a way to go home. "Thank you so much; Jack."

"Thank me when you're holding your baby." Jack said with a wistful glint in his eye.

Cooper could only smile back. "I'll hold you to that." She winked.

"You survived a plane crash and being cooped up on this island for five years," Jack said with a somewhat amazed shake of his head. "You don't deserve to stay here."

"None of us deserve this." Cooper replied. "All of us should be able to live the life we want."

"You're going to be a great mum, with that attitude," Jack said, gently nudging her in the calf with his knee.

"I hope so."

**xxx**


End file.
